1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

How the Mast Brothers fooled the world into paying $10 a bar for crappy hipster chocolate

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by YankeeFan, Dec 19, 2015.

  1. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    This is pretty great. Two brothers created a great narrative, if not great chocolate.

    I love that the same guy who exposed a similar outfit almost 10 years ago is the one who exposed them too.

    Whether you’ve seen their beautifully wrapped bars for sale at Shake Shack or Rag & Bone, featured in the pages of the New York Times orVogue, or decorating one of their New York, London, or soon, LA shops, Mast Brothers chocolate bars have become the world’s most prominent brand of artisanal chocolate.

    But while customers can’t get enough of the company’s bearded, Brooklyn hipster founders, and their brilliantly marketed, $10 “bean to bar” chocolates, a term reserved for chocolate that has been produced entirely under the maker’s control, from the cocoa bean to the wrapped bar, chocolate experts have shunned them. Earlier this year, Slate published a story on Rick and Michael Mast, detailing complaints by the craft chocolate community about their undeserved media attention and unparalleled hubris. (“I can affirm that we make the best chocolate in the world,” Rick told Vanity Fair in February.)

    Now, in “Mast Brothers: What Lies Beneath the Beards,” a new series of posts on DallasFood.org, Scott, the first-name-only blogger who in 2006 presented detailed allegations that the now-defunct Noka Chocolatewas selling another company’s chocolate at significantly higher prices, has targeted the Mast Brothers’ story. He alleges that the company—whose business is staked on its authenticity and commitment to transparency—did not originally make its own chocolate from scratch, as it claims it always has. As artisanal food surges in popularity, whether it’s chocolate, liquor or jam, the Mast Brothers’ story highlights how a company can have great success selling a product of dubious quality as something “artisanal” or “handcrafted” with beautiful packaging and handsome, bearded founders.


    How the Mast Brothers fooled the world into paying $10 a bar for crappy hipster chocolate
     
  2. BDC99

    BDC99 Well-Known Member

    I always wanted to be part of the craft chocolate community, but those chocolate wars can brutal.
     
  3. heyabbott

    heyabbott Well-Known Member

    #chocolatebarsmatter
     
  4. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    Don't give me rabbit poop and tell me that it's chocolate.
     
  5. Riptide

    Riptide Well-Known Member

    Reminds me of the Grey Goose pricing strategy.

    From Wiki: "Grey Goose was made more expensive than other premium vodka brands in order to
    produce a better product and to create a "superpremium" category in the American liquor market.
     
  6. BDC99

    BDC99 Well-Known Member

    Dr. Dre doesn't see the issue here. "Premium" $14 headphones for $200-plus!
     
  7. Mr. Sunshine

    Mr. Sunshine Well-Known Member

    Never trust a man with a beard.
     
    SpeedTchr likes this.
  8. Riptide

    Riptide Well-Known Member

    You're talking about Tom Cruise, right?
     
  9. BitterYoungMatador2

    BitterYoungMatador2 Well-Known Member

    What was wrong with the word "gourmet?" Did it not pay its union dues to the International Brotherhood of Pretentious Words and Phrases? "artisanal chocolate?" Go fuck yourself. What? A guy in a blacksmith apron pounding out a chocolate bar with a mallet?
     
    BDC99 likes this.
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page