Upper West Siders with a sweet tooth may be in for a treat. Here we have the Mast Brothers, Rick and Michael, who left Brooklyn in 2019 in the aftermath of a production scandal which was ignited by a food blogger who called into question their “bean to bar” chocolate making process. Now the Mast Brothers have returned to NYC – with a new Mast Market at 353 Columbus Avenue, between West 76th and West 77th streets.
The scandal revolved around the early days of the Mast Brothers, when they touted a “bean to bar” process that was just as trendy as their future Williamsburg storefront location. In full blown hipster fashion, Rick and Michael, both donning long beards, were making a name for themselves in the chocolate game leveraging this “bean to bar” marketing strategy, which meant they made their chocolate from scratch. They were among the first to manufacture chocolate using this method in America, and they said they did it from the beginning, in 2006, before incorporating in 2007 and setting up shop in Brooklyn.
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Then in December 2015, DallasFood.org published an explosive report, stating that “The fine chocolate community scorns the Mast Brothers because they are thought to have launched their business with a fundamental fraud: that of pretending to be a bean-to-bar chocolate company.” The write-up by Scott Craig alleged the Mast Brothers were actually melting down pre-made chocolate, then molding it into bars and re-packaging it, as evidenced by the large quantitates they were producing with such limited equipment. Following these charges, the Mast Brothers penned a letter denying all allegations.
The chocolaty controversy quickly caught the attention of the New York Times, and writer Sarah Maslin Nir interviewed Rick Mast in December 2015. ” … on the claim that the Masts were “remelters” at the start, Mr. Mast confirmed the brothers did use industrial chocolate, what is known as couverture, in some of their early creations, before settling on the bean-to-bar process for which they are now known,” wrote Nir.
Rick Mast went on to tell the Times “It was such a fun experimental year,” adding that the brothers were transparent “to anyone that asked.” In the letter they penned days before, they wrote “We have been open and transparent about our experimentation, techniques, and recipes since day one.”
The “bean to bar” process isn’t the only thing the Mast Brothers have been called out on. In a 2015 Slate story, Megan Giller wrote that “Many skeptical specialists contend that Mast’s Brooklyn location, hipster image, and beautiful packaging are the real reasons for its popularity—not its taste.” The Slate piece went on to quote chocolate experts on their opinions of Mast chocolate.
- “If you were to ask the world’s top chocolate reviewers to rate bars, Mast Brothers would hit in the bottom 5 percentile.” –Clay Gordon – Good Food Awards judge and author of Discover Chocolate.
- “There are defects in every bar, and the chocolate is bad.” –Eagranie Yuh, Writer, chocolate educator, and International Chocolate Awards judge.
Sales dropped off for the Mast brothers in the wake of bad press. In 2019, they closed their Williamsburg chocolate factory and storefront and moved their operations to Mount Kisco.
With their new Upper West Side shop about to open, Mast Market offers an array of coffee, tea, books and housewares, as well as their famous chocolate. Their Mount Kisco location currently has a 4.5 out of 5-star rating on Google. One person wrote, “Great spot to grab a coffee, some good chocolate and meet with others. A good alternative to Starbucks down the street. Both inside and out is thoughtfully designed.”
If one doesn’t like the chocolate or the brothers then don’t buy it. As far as I’m concerned I can’t wait to give their chocolate a taste. Maybe that’s because the UWS is much more open and welcoming than hyper-hipster Brooklyn!
find that Jacques Torres on Amsterdam Avenue satisfies my sweet tooth as well as all of my guests’. I firmly believe that we all should support our local small businesses as much as possible. Many of us can’t afford the type of luxury housing that our representative Helen Rosenthal seems to by living in one of those apartments on that Riverside Boulevard where all of those skyscraper-like apartment buildings are. I suppose with her kind of salary she can afford a staff to not only do her grocery shopping but also keep her apartment immaculately clean. I guess it’s all about choices. What about Linda B. Rosenthal? She may like to think that she is the “original” Rosenthal. I always walk past her offices on the south side of West 72nd Street between Broadway and West End Avenue. For years there was an encampment of homeless people right in front of her offices. She couldn’t have not seen them. I have to wonder why she never bother to alert the NYPD, the NYFD or even call 311? I guess here again it is all about choices. She probably was so busy going to candlelight vigils with her buddy Helen.
I think we could have left all this information out welcomed them to the neighborhood and hope they succeed and let customers decide what they want and like. We need to fill these vacant storefronts and keep these stores in business.
“I think we could have left all this information out”
Probably better to not read news then.
I’m always looking forward to sampling new chocolates. I’m easy to please. Love Hershey bars too, although that’s not how I got my nickname
Who cares…. Give me some chocolate!
I agree with the message above. What’s the purpose in writing such a negative article that will potentially sabotage a new small business coming to the upper west side at a time when the neighborhood (as well as small businesses) are struggling to recover from the pandemic!
When you don’t include relevant information so that customers can make an informed decision, it’s propaganda and p.r., not news. No one is stopping you from patronizing this store, but there are better and more honest chocolatiers in the city who don’t get nearly as much media coverage.
Plus bottom line: their chocolate is not very good for very expensive prices.
Bring it on Mast Market! Can’t wait for you to open! I wish you the best!!!!
they suckkkk the custom ordered a huge amount of printed packaging materials from my company, then left me stuck with all of it when they changed thier minds.. i lost money ..
I am one of the people quoted in the article.
I visited Mast Market in Mt Kisco back in May and wrote about it on TheChocolateLife. (Click on the magnifying glass and type in “Mast”.) As the name “Mast Market” implies they are offering more than just chocolate these days – pantry staples including flour ground in-house among them.
There are aspects of the chocolate-making process that still seem to elude them; tempering and wrapping being two on exhibit in the bar I tried, the Olive Oil bar, which I contrasted with one from K+M, in part because K (Thomas Keller) was such a strong supporter of the Mast Bros before the controversy went public.
In the end, Mast Bros controversy had nothing to do with Williamsburg or hipster or anything of the sort. Serious concerns were raised about the basis of the brand’s reputation and whether or not they were being honest. I think of it more as an exercise in hubris as the brand image evolved from a sort of aww-shucks Iowa farm boy vibe to Fashion Ave driven lifestyle brand.
I have to separate what I think of the company’s past from its present incarnation and think on that apart from what I think about the chocolate. I only had one bar so it’s impossible to generalize my impressions across their entire product line. If I were not involved, professionally, in tasting and reviewing chocolate I would not seek this chocolate out; while it was better than I remember other bars of theirs I tasted, and the astute among you may pick up on the fact I am damning with faint praise.
As I wrote back in May, “Mixing metaphors egregiously, it takes a lot of pluck to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back in the saddle again. It looks like the Mast brothers have learned some important lessons about being a lifestyle brand … and I for one am interested to follow where this new incarnation will lead them.” That assessment has not changed. While I will not rush up to the UWS to check them out, the next time I find myself in the neighborhood, I definitely will.
Isn’t this a prime example of Fake it until you can make it??
In all seriousness though, I work in the CPG industry. I don’t care if you’re organic, sustainable, farm to table, biodynamic, etc. It comes down marketing. Sure, you’re going to gain some good local clientele from having seriously good chocolate, but you’re going to grow legs by getting the proper marketing and niche market. And no other place like the United States of America, where everyone is fighting ’til they truly make it, and to a point where we are financially winning; before you’re vilified for the exact same thing your competition would love to do.
In my industry, few of the top producers are ever the best product. Usually not even close. But they’ve navigated the proper channels, and won on the balance of business and craft. I don’t eat a ton of chocolate by the bar, but I’ll support these guys.
Did not read this post before but I stopped into mast Market today had a cup of coffee and a piece of lemon poppy cake that were delicious. Their produce looked lovely. Returned to store and bought a bag of coffee beans.