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Cronut Bakery Fires Back At "Malicious Attacks," Plans To Reopen Tuesday
By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 7, 2014
Modified Apr 8, 2014
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 7, 2014
Modified Apr 8, 2014
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After a difficult few days, Dominique Ansel Bakery will reopen tomorrow. Troubles started for the Cronut chef last Thursday when a customer spotted a mouse running around behind the bakery's counter. Instead of alerting employees, however, the customer filmed the mouse and sent the video to... us. This prompted a visit from the Department of Health, whose inspectors found that the bakery had a "severe mouse infestation," and shut them down. (We were told this morning by the DoH that they had found several hundred mouse droppings.) But they've just been officially approved to reopen, bakery rep Amy Ma told us this afternoon, and will be doing so tomorrow. (The DoH confirmed with us that "they passed their re-opening inspection.")
To celebrate, they're offering a special Cronut, for one day only: "We have created a special edition for our April Cronut®, inspired by the movie Rocky. Each Rocky Cronut® is black with a yellow golden star and is a symbol of our dedication and resilience." The bakery's team has also issued this defiant statement:
"Dear friends, What you see in the photo is us—the less than 20 members of the Dominique Ansel Bakery team in our Soho bakery. This is all of us. In the past year, we have woken up daily knowing that our success has made us vulnerable to more malicious attacks than any small, one-shop business should ever have to suffer.
But we refuse to believe that we live in a world where success turns people into targets of spite and contempt. We choose instead to believe that it has led us to so many of you, our adoring fans and customers whom have sent your support. Thank you for the hundreds of emails, calls, and personal letters we received.
We are deeply sorry for any disappointment that we may have caused you. Taking this opportunity, we have completely fortified our facilities with a full reconstruction and re-cementing, taking every issue seriously in an effort to provide an even more pristine environment for our guests. As you know, we cook in completely opened kitchens, so everything we do is in full view.
Looking forward, our hope is that honest, hard-working businesses should not have to face cruel and sensationalized attacks that are not framed in the proper context. And systems should not be abused to single-out any one business over another. We urge our customers to seek deeper details and answers before jumping to conclusions. And regardless of the hits, we will take every chance and criticism as a lesson learned and work harder to rise to the expectations you have of us and that we have of ourselves.
On Tuesday morning, we open our doors at 8 a.m. as usual. We are excited to welcome you back and looking forward to greeting you all personally, as we do every day. In the words of Rocky Balboa—whose theme song has been playing on our radio all weekend long while we worked to deliver everything that was required of us and more—getting hit and keep moving forward…that’s how winning is done!"
Tagged
bakery
cronut
cronuts
dominique ansel
mouse
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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