2024, Business, Food, Mysteries

Twins?

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There are a handful of ads that come into my Inbox (instead of Junk) – Einstein Brothers and Brueggers are two of those because they offer occasional coupons that I like, particularly my birthday freebies every year.  A couple of weeks ago, not only did an ad for each show up on the same day, they arrived one after the other in my Inbox.  If they hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t have noticed that they have both launched the same sandwich on the same day.  See the photo above – I won’t even tell you which is which.

My first, very fleeting, thought was that it was a coincidence.  Then I thought it must be an amazing corporate espionage situation.  But the pictures are almost identical so I ventured the thought to YA that perhaps Brueggers and Einstein Brothers were somehow related.  YA snorted and said “of course, they’re related –  they’re owned by the same company.” 

In the travel industry, hotels are always changing hands and my company had a actual department to keep track of this kind of thing (Industry Relations).  Who owns what was never interesting to me.  I had it suggested to me once that I could boost my career by keeping up with the industry better than I did.  Cue the laughter.  Despite both my sisters thinking of me as “a successful career woman” (cue more laughter), I never considered myself as such.  I had a job, a job that I liked, a job that I was very good at.  I didn’t want to be a team leader, a manager, a director… just wanted to do my job.  I did get every promotion along the way (apparently in record time according to my old boss) but it never changed the job that I did…. Only changed my title and added a bit more to my paycheck.

So it doesn’t surprise me that I didn’t know that Brueggers and Einstein Brothers were siblings.  It does surprise me that they launched the same sandwich on the same day and from the looks of it, probably used photos from the same photo shoot.  It doesn’t seem a good way to differentiate the two chains.  Of course, my idea of what corporate America should do and what corporate America does are clearly not in sync.  At all!

Tell me about how you like your bagel sandwiches!

24 thoughts on “Twins?”

  1. We had some really good bagels at a bagel bakery in Gig Harbor, WA earlier this month. I don’t care for bagels as a medium for a sandwich. I like mine toasted with a thin, and I mean thin, spreading of cream cheese. Nothing else.

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  2. I thought Bruegger’s had at some point been acquired by Caribou Coffee. Perhaps that’s still the case and Caribou has added Einstein to the fold. Back when Bruegger’s and Einstein Bros were separate and distinct I had a preference for Bruegger’s. Einstein’s bagels always seemed to me to be fluffier and less bagel-ly. Neither branch of the chain offers really exceptional bagels but I prefer a bagel sandwich to most other forms of fast food. Many of the bagel shops have closed and there are none convenient to us any more.

    My favorite bagel sandwich was, naturally, discontinued years ago at Bruegger’s. It was called Roadhouse Chicken.

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  4. I’m like Renee, have never much liked bagels in a sandwich – most are too dense. But toasted and slathered with whipped cream cheese and honey or some wonderful kind of jam…

    In my early 20s, I tried (just once) making lots of things from scratch – bagels, English muffins… They all came out OK, but just “meh”, so I deferred to the professionals.

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  5. Always toasted! It’s hard to beat smoked salmon on a pumpernickel bagel at OTB Cafe in Owatonna. Unfortunately, they rarely offer pumpernickel. But I’ve grown to like bagels since I first tried them, and their “new” space (a year or so) is a welcoming place for me to write.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  6. I have never had a bagel sandwich. I have toasted bagels with assorted cream cheese flavors but I’m reluctant to call them sandwiches unlike P&Js.

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  7. My high school years were lived in an area of St. Louis that was predominantly Jewish. On Jewish holidays, there was no point even going to school. So I learned about bagels early on compared to other folks my age and maybe because of that I’ll do bagels almost anyway. Toasted, untoasted, whipped cream cheese, PB&J, toasted with butter/cinnamon/ sugar, pizza sauce with cheese, egg/cheese/butter on toasted, and a summer favorite is non-toasted with slices of cheese, tomato, lettuce, and Miracle Whip. Yes I said Miracle Whip. Actually, I’ve got to say that about the only way I don’t like them is the way I was originally presented with them at a friends house in 9th grade— bagels with Lox!

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  8. I have tried making bagels a couple of times. The end product was fine but like croissants, it’s so much work that it’s better left to the professionals.

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  10. We first had a bagel on our honeymoon in Seattle in 1990 as part of room service breakfast. Rochester didn’t have any bagel places back then. Brueggers became my favorite. Not a sandwich, just toasted with garden veggie cream cheese.
    There is one Brueggers down in the clinic subway, and if I have morning appointments, we’ll get a bagel there, but it’s not a place you just pop into. And it closes at 2PM.
    Caribou has some bagels that are ok. But they’re not Brueggers.

    I did NOT know Einstein and Brueggers were owned by the same parent company.

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  11. I don’t usually buy bagels, but if they are offered on the table in the breakroom, and there is a toaster, I’m with Renee – just a bit of cream cheese. A whole bagel is a bit much for me. If I’m going to make a breakfast sandwich, I’ll usually go for the smaller, lighter English muffin, with egg and cheese.

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  12. Well, presently, I like them in Ireland .

    I’m not impressed with the phone service from T-Mobile in Ireland though. I was told it would be fine. It doesn’t exist. I only have phone service when using WiFi.

    We had a 48 hour stretch without sleep. I couldn’t sleep on the plane at all. I really don’t like flying. I slept like a baby last night.

    We’re in Fanore on the Atlantic coast south west of Galway. It’s a very quiet little place accessible only by those winding narrow little roads. It’s the kind of place where British mysteries are filmed. The Burren is the prominent landscape. The sun is shining brightly this morning. It was misty and drizzly yesterday evening when we finallly arrived. I took pictures yesterday in Kilkenny. I was just blown away by this charming European town.

    I love how there is very little urban sprawl and almost no litter here. The air is clean and the water is really good. No walmart, not many convenience stores everywhere. Really old buildings are repaired and repurposed, not destroyed. Our young country has so much to learn.

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