S06.E13: Coffee Meets Bagel, SkinnyShirt, Doorman, Bantam Bagel

[designing1]

 

Ooh--ouch, I didn't realize this sounds bad, I use this at work quite often.

 

Awww...didn't mean to make you feel bad! The "so" things drives me crazy because on Shark Tank it goes thusly:

 

Shark: [Question]

Presenter: So...

Shark: [Follow up question]

Presenter: So...

 

I'm sure in your day-to-day work things are more organic and no one notices if you use it once in a blue moon or all the time.

[Diana Berry]

Please let us know about the bagels , those who ordered.

[Amarsir]

When Robert and Lori were making their joint offer was that 15% equity combined or 15% to each of them?  Because if it was combined, I think I would have taken that deal in order to have two sharks and two cities lined up..

Combined.  I actually think that when there were discussing 3 sharks for 20%, the pushback should not have been less percentage but more money.  Because if they're expanding to 3 cities at once that straight-up will be more expensive.  Barbara may have balked anyway, but trying to negotiate sharks below 5% was too rough.  Just say "I agree to that, since you all need enough percentage to stay interested. But you should each put more in."

 

On the other hand, Robert was so enthusiastic to get in on that sale that as long as they didn't offend him, he made a good safety net while working on  a multi-shark deal.  So I don't think they did a bad job negotiating.

Edited January 11, 2015 by Amarsir

[theatremouse]

I was floored that Mark C. offered them $30 million to buy their business and maybe they were foolish not to take it.

Was that a serious offer? He said something like, "What if I offered you $30M, would you take it?" And that was after he was already out. I took it as him being curious to see how delusional they were.

Yeah, my recollection was him explicitly saying he was not making such an offer, just that he wanted to know how they'd respond to one, to get a sense of where they were with it. Edited January 12, 2015 by theatremouse

[EllieH]

 

Did you meet anyone interesting? Is the app worth exposing all of your Facebook friends' info?

 

I met two guys who I ended up having a couple of dates with, and another three that were one date meetings, so not too bad?  Nothing that's turned into anything too serious though.  So I'd say yes, worth exposing all your Facebook info.

[Taeolas]

With respect to the dating app, today's Tree Lobsters seems apropos. :)

 

I wonder which city Robert was bringing to the table? Toronto could certainly use that service I'm sure, but the company may not be ready to go International yet. Then again, with Robert bringing in Canada's big 3 cities, and another Shark to start working on the US cities, it could be big for them. Evening delivery service in general seems to be something long overdue; hopefully they can get expanded into a common name before too many copycats pop up. 

 

And for the person who mentioned insurance, he did mention some of his costs are insurance and such, and how few drivers he needs to have a good city presence (at least for now). Given time, if he can grow enough, he'll probably do well I'm sure. Probably well enough for UPS/FedEx or someone to snap him up and start offering "Evening UPS service" or something. 

[zxy556575]

Wonder how much the drivers get paid if customers only pay $3.95? They probably expect a tip.

[margol29]

The one bagel sister could have used the skinny shirt!!! Her shirt was all bulky and wrinkled under her t-shirt.

[starri]

Wonder how much the drivers get paid if customers only pay $3.95? They probably expect a tip.

Based on other delivery services, most of them advise that tipping isn't expected, but welcome.

 

Also, with a decent population density, you could have one driver making two dozen stops in a single trip.  And they have a subscription as well, so $20/mon which a lot of city dwellers would pay and then not use enough to make it a net negative for the company.  Like Amazon Prime.

 

But, like I said, I'm their ideal customer.  You're talking to a man who had a twelve-pack of toilet paper delivered from Target so I didn't have to make a two hour round trip on the subway.

[Shibori]

Those of us that have to deal with the special circle of hell that's created if you have a PO Box would be all over this. Websites insist on your street address (and most won't even let you put a box number in the second line) and then they turn around and use smart post or mail innovations where final delivery is the post office, who refuse to recognize your street address, so packages are stuck in limbo. I literally live directly across the street from the post office, like my front door is 100 feet away from theirs, but they don't deliver to my street, so I get a free PO box but not even the option for regular delivery. The PO is open from 830-430, and I work 20 mins away from 8-5. So when Amazon screws me by using smartpost for prime, I can only get the package on Saturday, assuming the PO won't refuse it for no box #. Amazon claims it meets the delivery date because it's technically available for pickup. I now allow all my employees to have personal packages delivered to the office, where we get daily shipments because I know what a pain it is.

[needschocolate]

And $80 for basically a dickey?  Ridiculous.  I'll wear a tank top or t-shirt under a collared shirt, but under a sweater I'll only wear a thin, long-sleeved T-shirt.  But I agree that Lori would be the target Shark, for the QVC market. 

 

They are more than a dickey.  You couldn't wear a dickey without a shirt underneath or you risk being arrested for indecent exposure, but they said that you could wear the skinny shirt without a sweater on top - it goes all the way down to your waist.  So it is $80 for basically a tank top with a collar (she called it a cami but I thought a cami had to have thin straps or it was a tank). 

 

I thought it was a good idea if it were $15 (which it isn't) and you liked wearing that sort of style (which I don't). Even if I had Mark's level of money, I would never have invested in it. 

[RococoChanel]

I thought the skinny shirt was a good idea, because I'm into that classic look. It's not dated--it's just an old stanby. However, I wouldn't pay $80 bucks for it.

 

As a native New Yorker, I'll take my bagels toasted with butter, thankyouverymuch.

 

And I didn't like the Kang sisters at all...

[zxy556575]

You're talking to a man who had a twelve-pack of toilet paper delivered from Target so I didn't have to make a two hour round trip on the subway.

 

Solidarity! Just yesterday I got three 12-packs (triple roll!) of TP from Wal-Mart delivered, and I live about 2 miles from them.

 

I work from home in central Florida with an enclosed front lanai and no problems with opportunistic thievery, but I just don't see how Doorman could make money at those prices. It looks like the rates for messenger/courier service in NYC run around $12.95 and up -- I'd expect Doorman to creep up to at least $8-9. I mean, the service is really only feasible in high population density cities like NY or San Francisco, but warehouse space in those places is exorbitant. Even if their drivers are independent contractors who use their own vehicles/gas and aren't paid any benefits, the company itself would need considerable business insurance. I think it's a smart idea and wish them the best but am skeptical about their success with the existing price structure.

[starri]

I think we're getting toward beating a dead horse, but Google Express, which currently operates in the Bay Area, LA, Chicago, Washington, DC, Boston, and Manhattan charges either a flat $3.99 per delivery or $10/month for unlimited where delivery is free if the total merchandise is over $15.  In New York, they offer about a dozen different stores, although personally the only ones that I regularly seem to shop from are Target, CostCo, PetsMart (trust me, even $100 not to have lug a 12 lb bag of kitty litter on the subway is a bargain), and Fairway (a supermarket chain in the great NY metro area).  They don't do perishables, and I wish their delivery windows were a little tighter (right now, you pick from one of three four-hour blocks per day), but they seem pretty popular.  I know I'm not the only person in my building that uses them, and I live in a not-quite-gentrified area of Harlem.  Maybe it's different because they have Google money behind them, but if Doorman serves a need, I know a lot of people who would use it.

 

Anyway, this is getting pretty far afield from the episode, so maybe we should move over to the small talk thread if we want to continue it.

[Shibori]

I think the difference is that a typical messenger service has to both pick up at a specific location and drop off at one.  And, if the same driver that picked it up doesn't deliver it, then they have to hand it off to someone else.  All of the packages for this service are originating from the same warehouse, and would be presorted into routes, so that would theoretically cut some of the time/cost involved.

[yeswedo]

This is a funny coincidence - I've been doing a rewatch of Felicity and there is an episode from the first season (1999) where Sean is talking about one of his inventions - donut hole sized bagels that are injected with fillings like cream cheese and butter! 

 

For anyone that doesn't remember Sean and his inventions, it does not bode well for Bantam Bagels that he had the idea 15 years ago.

[jackjill89]

I think Market Day offers a cream cheese filled bagel thingy. It wasn't a revolutionary idea.

[Lola16]

I love me some bagels but those sounded gross especially if they come frozen or refrigerated.  I like my bagels crunchy, not soggy.  I hate refrigerated bread of any kind.

 

There are other FB dating apps. Haven't tried any, but I do get requests for them.

 

The cami collar thing was OK.  It'd be rare that I would wear one but I wouldn't want to spend $80 on it.

[Kel Varnsen]

For that shirt collar thing was the model, the daughter of the woman making the pitch? I wasn't sure if that was stated or not, because if she was the whole changing behind the screen and the comments some of the sharks were making was not really appropriate and kind of creepy.

 

I also thought the dating site girls were delusional and greedy.  

Considering their valuation, and the fact that they wouldn't tell the sharks there number of users (seriously what the hell was that), I strongly suspect that they just went on for the free ad time. I mean their whole business is based around signing up members. Considering Shark Tank is on, on Friday Nights, what better way to expose yourself to a bunch of people who don't have dates that night. One thing I didn't get though, is if they lose a million on a million in revenue, where does that second million come from? Are they just not paying people or delaying their salaries? Or just finding new investors (in a money losing company) and spending their money. Because I doubt any bank is loaning out millions of dollars for internet sites anymore.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Kel Varnsen

[starri]

 Because I doubt any bank is loaning out millions of dollars for internet sites anymore.

We're currently in a second DotCom bubble, but this one is app-based.  They may not have bank loans, but they had (by their own admission) venture capital money from which they were paying themselves a third of their revenue.

[bilgistic]

If the collared shirt-shaper lady made one for men, she might get some business. The guys in my office are ALL ABOUT wearing sweaters and dress shirts. I think the look is so 1980s on men, for some reason.

[pbutler111]

My Bantam bagels arrive tomorrow!

[Kel Varnsen]

The door man thing was interesting, although I am spoiled, my wife stays at home with the kids, and I work at a place that doens't mind if I have packages sent here, but I can certainly see the value of it, especially in Canada where mail only gets delivered Monday to Friday. But the guy didn't really seem very focused. I mean he had Laurie and Robert at one point for 12%. But he kept sort of fishing for more sharks. Kevin was out and so was Barbara, even Mark didn't really seem that interesting. His not being focused cost him Laurie, which I think was a bad move, because like Barbara said if he could get hooked up with a mail order service (like QVC) they could give him a ton of referrals. Possibly even like she said have an option when you order something online from QVC you can sign up for Doorman and have it shipped to them.

[Lola16]

The door man thing was interesting, although I am spoiled, my wife stays at home with the kids, and I work at a place that doens't mind if I have packages sent here, but I can certainly see the value of it, especially in Canada where mail only gets delivered Monday to Friday. But the guy didn't really seem very focused. I mean he had Laurie and Robert at one point for 12%. But he kept sort of fishing for more sharks. Kevin was out and so was Barbara, even Mark didn't really seem that interesting. His not being focused cost him Laurie, which I think was a bad move, because like Barbara said if he could get hooked up with a mail order service (like QVC) they could give him a ton of referrals. Possibly even like she said have an option when you order something online from QVC you can sign up for Doorman and have it shipped to them.

Agreed.  I live in garden style buildings so no doorman.  At work, they do not like personal packages (it's a huge corporation in NYC, the mailroom is in a sub basement and messengers can't get in through security).  A few coworkers have braved it, only to get their packages returned to sender or dropped off on another floor (mail doesn't come to your desk but to several bins in different locations on each floor).  So this service would work for me.  Many times, I would love to choose when and where I get a package.  The liability of the delivery person, that all has to be worked out.  But it's interesting.

[Diana Berry]

How were the bagels?

[pbutler111]

So, my Bantam Bagels arrived Friday, right on time. The packaging was good, and the bagels were still frozen. One minor thing about packaging: The Shark Tank variety pack includes 6 each of 6 different varieties of bagels, each set in their own resealable plastic bag. Unfortunately, the cold makes the labels on the bags fall off, so you do have to do a little guesswork as to which is which. Also, the ingredients and nutrition issue are included in the box on two loose sheets, info for three varieties on each sheet. Unfortunately, ours came with the same page included twice, so we have three varieties with no ingredient or nutrition listing, and that information is not offered on their website; if I want to know, I'll have to contact them and ask. As for the bagels themselves, the Shark Tank pack includes French Toast (cinnamonn nutmeg egg bagel filled with mapel syrup cream cheese); Grandma JoJo (Italian seasoned bagel filled with pesto cream cheese); The Classic (plain bagel filled with plain whipped cream cheese); Cookies & Milk (brown sugar walnut bagel filled with chocolate chip cream cheese); Hot Pretzel (pretzel salt bagel filled with cheddar dijon cream cheese); and Everybody's Favorite (everything bagel filled with veggie cream cheese). This last one -- Everybody's Favorite -- is the only one I've tried so far. The reheating instructions are included and easy to follow. After 20 seconds in the microwave to defrost, I popped the bagel onto a cookie sheet and into the toaster oven, preheated to 400 degrees, for 6 minutes. (Kind of a lot of effort, by the way, for a bagel bite, especially preheating the oven to 400, and more effort than you might want to make for a quick snack.) I like cold cream cheese, so I was afraid that this process would make the cream cheese center rather like molten lava. But I was pleased to find that the outside of the bagel was nicely crisp, the inside soft and chewy, and the cream cheese core, miraculously. creamy and just the right temperature. Overall, it was quite good, and certainly a lot less devestating to the diet than an entire bagel with cream cheese. On the other hand, is it worth the money? Meh. Maybe if you could actually choose the varieties that make up your 36 pack, but you can't. Of the Shark Tank pack I received, 4 of the flavors sound okay to me, but I really have no interest in the two sweet varieties, so would rather have doubled up on a couple of the savory options. And while the price with shipping works out to be slightly less per bagel bite than if you purchased them in their Brooklyn store, the people who go into the store have a really large selection of varieties to choose from, while the home buyer can basically get either the pre-selected Shark Tank pack, or go to QVC and get the pre-selected QVC pack -- not really any options at all. If they change their mail order service to allow customers to make their own selection of a wider variety of flavors, I might consider purchasing again. But, otherwise -- probably not.

[needschocolate]

So, my Bantam Bagels arrived Friday, right on time.

 

Thanks pbutler111.

 

Is there an easy way to let us know the nutrition info for the three you have it for?  Or at least the average calorie count, and perhaps sodium and fat content? 

Edited January 18, 2015 by needschocolate

[LeGrandElephant]

I like wearing comfortable clothes but I also like the look of collared shirts. I would totally wear that skinny shirt under a sweater in the winter if it were the cost of a normal layering tank top, say $15. But at $60+ or whatever it was, no way.

[pbutler111]

Wow, I take it back. While I did receive two copies of the same nutrition info, I now see that the nutrition info I received is for one bagel that's included in the pack sent to me, and two bagels I didn't receive. So, actually, the nutrition info I received is even more useless than I first thought. That said, the info for these three only varies a little bit from each other. The Hot Pretzel (the only one of these three I actually received) is 76 calories per bite, 29 of those from fat. Total fat: 3.2g; Saturated fat: 1.9g; Trans fat: 0g; Cholesterol: 10mg; Sodium: 105 mg (the highest of the three, by 10-20mg); Total carb: 9.4g; Sugars: 0.4g; Dietery Fiber: 0.4g; Protein 2.3g.

[designing1]

I was just watching GMA and they featured a company called Hinge. Started in 2011, it's a dating site that makes matches between friends of friends by accessing Facebook accounts. There's no cutesy code name and their pricing structure wasn't discussed, but really, what's to stop them from crushing the three sisters like the $100,000 per year, won't break even till they make a $10 million per year cockroaches they are? (Or vice versa, for that matter. Insert "nothing proprietary" mantra here.)

[jackjill89]

I was just watching GMA and they featured a company called Hinge. Started in 2011, it's a dating site that makes matches between friends of friends by accessing Facebook accounts. There's no cutesy code name and their pricing structure wasn't discussed, but really, what's to stop them from crushing the three sisters like the $100,000 per year, won't break even till they make a $10 million per year cockroaches they are? (Or vice versa, for that matter. Insert "nothing proprietary" mantra here.)

I was just coming on to post the same thing! Interesting...didn't the guy say he got this idea while at the business school at Harvard? Wasn't that one of the sisters' story as well? 

[Diana Berry]

Ty for the review of the bagel bites. Can they be microwaved or do they have to go in the oven?

Edited January 24, 2015 by Diana Berry

[zxy556575]

I tried a couple in the microwave but then they weren't crunchy on the outside. You're supposed to microwave from frozen to thaw, then bake. I didn't bother thawing.

[needschocolate]

I can't imagine that the Bantam Bagels taste so wonderful that they are worth the effort - defrosting in the microwave, preheating the oven, browning in the oven, washing pans (in case the cream cheese seeps out, etc...  Then if you heat it too much, the cheese probably melts and I am not sure that cream cheese would go back to the same consistency if it is melted. 

 

If I just want a few bites of bagel and cream cheese, I just slice a bagel in half, then cut it in half again (so a fourth of a bagel), toast it and spread on some cream cheese - A couple of minutes, a knife, a napkin and I am done (and, occasionally a wooden spoon, in case I have trouble getting it out of the toaster).. 

[Guest]

I've seen a free dating app/site that is about the same and also uses Facebook.  At least I think it was free.  But otherwise it looked the same.  I agree that dating sites often make women feel like meat on a hook and there should be alternatives.  But I'm not sure this is it, at least not for me.  I don't use Facebook much and some of my FB friends have thousands of 'friends', so I can see it being about as useful as a random date generator from your age group and geographic area.  

 

I like the name Bantam Bagels and they sound good but I'd stop in Einsteins or eat an actual bagel at home, in small portions.

 

I'm lucky, delivery men drop stuff on my front porch all the time and it's never been messed with.  I assume if it is, it's not my loss, is it?  Doesn't Amazon have some sort of insurance on things, if they ship that way?  

[NikSac]

I'm lucky, delivery men drop stuff on my front porch all the time and it's never been messed with.  I assume if it is, it's not my loss, is it?  Doesn't Amazon have some sort of insurance on things, if they ship that way?  

 

I've had a few things stolen, unfortunately, and yes it was my loss. Once it was officially reported as delivered, both Amazon and the carrier apparently had no responsibility, even for the one that was supposed to require a signature but they didn't get one. I'm not sure how much I'd pay for it, but I like the idea of having a safe place to have packages delivered.