Afternoon Links: Mast Brothers Had No Beards, Bushwick's Got Free Love
In the News Step Inside This Bushwick Polyamory House [Gothamist] Attacker Convicted in Hate Crime on Transgender Woman in Brooklyn [NYT] The Last Reminder of One of the Men Who Built Bay Ridge [Hey Ridge] Williamsburg Chocolatiers the Mast Brothers Didn’t Always Have Beards [Brokelyn] MTA Bus Driver Arrested in Deadly Brooklyn Crash [PIX11] Downtown Brooklyn…

In the News
Step Inside This Bushwick Polyamory House [Gothamist]
Attacker Convicted in Hate Crime on Transgender Woman in Brooklyn [NYT]
The Last Reminder of One of the Men Who Built Bay Ridge [Hey Ridge]
Williamsburg Chocolatiers the Mast Brothers Didn’t Always Have Beards [Brokelyn]
MTA Bus Driver Arrested in Deadly Brooklyn Crash [PIX11]
Downtown Brooklyn Getting Another Tall-ish Tower [Curbed]
Preservation vs. Planning: Mapping the Shocking Number of New Developments in PLG [Q Parkside]
Click through for…
It’s hard to imagine any other explanation for the DOB to have signed off on something like this; “missing support columns and unsupported beams”!! It’s a good thing the building didn’t collapse while people were living in it. Earlier reports said the building MIGHT not have to be torn down, but I wonder if correcting such extensive defects is really feasible.
— Bob Marvin in Mystery Deepens Around Murdered Landlord’s Unstable ‘Burg Building
Comment of the Day
Email tips@brownstoner.com with further comments, questions or tips. Follow Brownstoner on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.
[sc:daily-email-signup ]
While people are digging at an discrepancies in the Mast brothers, the original allegations were pretty serious. Buying someone else’s product (chocolate) and repackaging (remelting) it as your own is wrong. The Masts claim to be transparent, authentic, and cutting edge; yet when put to the test none of their claims is true. They refuse to allow tours in early days, now they do, but the actual factory in the Navy Yard that does bulk production is still off limits…why? They order chocolate making equipment and according to employees it sits unused. Why? They are able to source beans from countries during the middle of droughts, walk offs, poor crop yeilds when nobody else can… How? They had production capacity for 300 bars a week and are pumping out 10 times that without compromising quality… how?
They lied to their consumers by using someone elses products and repacking as their own. Shameful. Their business model is highly dependent on the reputation they established and that reputation is being shattered. Unless they can come up with some pictures from 2007/8/9/10 disproving their claims, the damage is done and their business will start drying up as culinary professionals and commercial venues (e.g. park slope food coop) distance themselves.
While people are digging at an discrepancies in the Mast brothers, the original allegations were pretty serious. Buying someone else’s product (chocolate) and repackaging (remelting) it as your own is wrong. The Masts claim to be transparent, authentic, and cutting edge; yet when put to the test none of their claims is true. They refuse to allow tours in early days, now they do, but the actual factory in the Navy Yard that does bulk production is still off limits…why? They order chocolate making equipment and according to employees it sits unused. Why? They are able to source beans from countries during the middle of droughts, walk offs, poor crop yeilds when nobody else can… How? They had production capacity for 300 bars a week and are pumping out 10 times that without compromising quality… how?
They lied to their consumers by using someone elses products and repacking as their own. Shameful. Their business model is highly dependent on the reputation they established and that reputation is being shattered. Unless they can come up with some pictures from 2007/8/9/10 disproving their claims, the damage is done and their business will start drying up as culinary professionals and commercial venues (e.g. park slope food coop) distance themselves.