lockdown diaries: Laurel from Fine Bagels
I was first made aware of Fine Bagels at one of the first breakfast markets hosted at Markthalle Neun. After the first bite I was hooked! Bagels were a staple of my breakfast life in New York and I hadn't found one that I liked in Berlin until that moment. Flash forward to last year, working on the Netflix show 'Unorthodox' I got to personally know Laurel as she was our food stylist. A side note: I am so addicted to challah, that I even did a challah making worship with her! (Challah available only Thursday to Saturday at the shop!)
Hi! Tell us a bit about yourself
I'm a baker and bookseller and I've been running a business in Berlin since 2011. I split my time between Berlin and Paris to maximise my bread consumption.
What brought you to Berlin?
I came to Berlin because I was living in Prague with my Czech husband. Berlin was close by and seemed ever so slightly friendlier. I think I'm the only person who ever moved to Berlin and couldn't believe how nice people were. The idea was to open another bookstore and split our time between Berlin and Prague.
What are your favourite things about this city?
My favorite things about Berlin are the lakes. But that's not really a good answer, is it? Like, my favorite thing about Berlin is how easy it is to get out of Berlin? So I guess my other favorite thing is the food community. This city is such a good incubator for food concepts. It's still pretty cheap to get something going and people are always looking to try new things.
Can you give us some recommendations of places to visit?
Eating out: My favorite meal in Berlin is Heno Heno over in Charlottenburg. After that, it's definitely Risa.
Outdoor escapism: Schlachtensee forever. If I have to go further afield, I go to Buckow. That's a solid lake.
Indoor escapism: Venus Nails on Kottbusser Damm. That's my indoor escapism.
Shopping...I have a new favorite second hand. Versa on Selchower Strasse. They get such good pieces and their prices are great.
Can you share any future plans with us?
Now that my store is stabilised and back to normal, I'm going to head to the south of France to help a friend open her new bakery. Working vacation. After that, let's see. Maybe open a new spot in Berlin.
How has your life/business been affected by the covid pandemic?
Like everyone else in gastronomy, my business dropped way down. I'm a pretty nervous person so I just did an overnight switch to takeaway and deliveries. We did the deliveries ourselves to keep costs down and we managed the takeaway window with just two staff members. Our regular customers were amazing with their support and in the end, things are really fine. I need a vacation though.
Did you have to change your work model to adapt to the new normal?
We had to make a lot of changes. Our supplier ran out of yeast and I had to switch to making a 100 percent sourdough bagel. It was kinda fun to put those skills to work. The delivery was the main change. It was pretty exhausting but also really satisfying.
Will you keep implementing the changes you made or are you planning to go back to the old model only?
Ideally we'll return entirely to the old model. Deliveries were only sustainable while people were isolating at home and we didn't have other things to do in the business. Now that things are back to mostly normal, we don't have the infrastructure or need to keep that up. We're ready to swing back into action though should there be more closures and a second corona wave.
Any realisations or important takeaways?
I guess the realisation is that we're all more vulnerable, especially in a business sense, than we'd like to think. It's making me think about diversifying my career and investing more time in having a safety net of some sort.
