Brick House

[worldwiser]

Love what they've done. Really bright and airy and I thought very friendly staff. I would ask, could you not do a takeaway price on the sandwiches? They are fabulous, but I might be more inclined to come daily if they were more like 4.50 to take away rather than 6 which is pretty steep if you're not sitting down.

[Azalea]

Do you have any links to a daily menu Brickhouse?

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

?6 just to take your sandwich home ? 😯

[Azalea]

Toasted do lunch for ?10 inc a glass of wine.

[DulwichFox]

Had a look today.. Did not seem that bright to me... considering it is a beautiful sunny day..

Its still just a warehouse with a few wooden tables.. Seating for 15 people ???

Space for 30 - 40 buggies.. only 3-4 in when I look in.

Another Mummy Baby Creche caf? ?

DulwichFox

[Bellenden Belle]

Oh dear. I love Brick House bread and I wanted to love this place.

But it left me cold. In fact I left without ordering and fled to Toasted.

The prices are just unrealistic. When it starts making Boulangerie Jade look reasonable you've got to question just how much retailers will push the East Dulwich market.

And yes there's room for buggies but a few mums nursing a coffee won't keep a place that size afloat.

[Mustard]

?6 for a sandwich is extremely steep. I saw that they had a chicken sandwich on offer the other day. I do like the bread, but a whole loaf is less than that. How much are the pastries, cakes, granola and coffee?

[Bellenden Belle]

I think I saw a Chelsea bun at ?4. And it was tiny....

[Mugglesworth]

Well, you've got to factor in the cab fare from Chelsea...

[simonethebeaver]

My avocado on toast was ?3.50 and a big portion. I did think the buns were scary prices though!

[Jeremy]

Sounds like they have some teething issues with price and portion... hopefully they can be resolved. Would have thought ?5 for a sandwich on nice bread would be about right. And ?2.50-?3 for a bun or decent slice of cake.

Better to sell 100 sandwiches at ?5 each than 20 at ?6 each.

[DulwichFox]

Jeremy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Sounds like they have some teething issues with

> price and portion... hopefully they can be

> resolved. Would have thought ?5 for a sandwich on

> nice bread would be about right. And ?2.50-?3 for

> a bun or decent slice of cake.

>

> Better to sell 100 sandwiches at ?5 each than 20

> at ?6 each.

Problem with that is, to make 100 sandwiches takes 5 time the staff hours than making 20.

Foxy

[worldwiser]

Anderson's in Bellenden Rd will relieve you of a fiver for one of their sandwiches (also on Brickhouse Bread.) They are also utterly delicious but this is really the price ceiling. Even if it is about the nicest sandwich available.

[Bellenden Belle]

Yes - Anderson's is the perfect comparison surely. Particularly since it is the exact same bread.

[Mustard]

Wonder if they will still have their stall at Herne Hill Market and sell buns etc. at these prices.

[phobic3000]

Shame - I'm not paying ?6 for a sandwich.

[DulwichFox]

phobic3000 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Shame - I'm not paying ?6 for a sandwich.

People are queuing up at The Dog Father to pay ?6.00 + for a hot dog. Sausage in a Bun...

DulwichFox

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

?6 for a hotdog too ? I was actually really shocked to see that the popcorn on the stall was ?3.60... Seriously ? For some crunchy air ? If people would stop paying these silly prices they would have to lower them .

[fergusjackson]

We had made a conscious decision to try and avoid the East Dulwich Forum as we are aware what a negative place it can be, but we were tipped off that there have been some comments about our pricing, and we wanted to meet them head on.

In this day and age, when our high streets have been centralised, commoditised and globalised into oblivion, how do you judge the value of something? Yes our bread is several times more expensive than what you can buy in Tescos, or possibly even your local bakery chain if you have one, but take a moment to look at the ingredients and think about how the bread is made. Our bread is made using just three ingredients. Flour, water and salt. Each loaf is made over two days, all by hand, buy a group of people who really care about what they do. Compare this to your supermarket loaf which is produced by machines to generate maximum yield for the smallest cost and effort and is packed full of chemicals, improvers, sugar, salt and who knows what else to bulk it out. To me this seems more of a rip off than paying more for something that is what it is supposed to be.

It also seems strange that the same people who bemoan the decline of the high street also complain when people try to breathe a bit of life into it. Yes we are a business, and we want to make money so we can pay our rent, our staff and carry on doing what we love, but we are not being greedy by charging what we do. Our sandwiches are a very decent size, and packed full of great ingredients from (where possible) local businesses. Like our bread, these ingredients cost more than mass-manufactured, intensively farmed produce. We also don?t have the buying power of Pret or Sainsbury?s, and if we sold them cheaper, we would lose money and yet another business would have to close down. Although I guess our site would be the perfect size for a Tesco Metro.

The bottom line is that you can?t judge how small independent businesses operate against the prices of what has become the norm - multi nationals who centralaise and commodotise everything. Even Gail?s isn?t really a fair comparison. The majority of their products are made by a company called The Bread Factory in a massive facility in North London, and then shipped out to the stores each day. Again we would argue that a shop masquerading as a ?local bakery? that doesn?t really do much baking on site is more of a con than a ?6 sandwich.

If any one on here who wants to come in and talk to us about any of this, we really would be more than happy to do so. And maybe if we had the opportunity to talk through our processes, then our pricing would make more sense.

Many thanks.

Fergus & Sharmin

[Ron70]

Personally I think the fact that it seems to be buzzing this morning speaks volumes. If people like it, it will succeed, if they don't, it won't.

Ron70

[phobic3000]

Really? I didn't know that place was so expensive, I usually go for the hog roast.

[Mustard]

Cooper used to sell a plain one with just mustard or ketchup for about ?3. They are beef hotdogs.

[yeknomyeknom]

Well we were in this morning and will definitely be back. I think the venue is great and the food was delicious. If you haven't seen any photos there are a few on my blog along with my review: http://showmelovelylittlethings.tumblr.com

[healey]

Went for lunch, very nice indeed. Of course this isn't a budget cafe, but the bread was quality stuff and the sarnies were large and tasty.

There is a contingent on the ED forum that resent those who are either young and "hipster" or those who choose to spend their money on an upmarket treat. There are venues to suit all budgets in East Dulwich.

Anyway, all the best with the bakery. I'll be going again.

[Louisa]

I'll be sticking with Ayres thanks all the same. Good quality local indepedent bakery been around for years and an institution for people who have lived here all their lives. They do it all on site and dont charge the earth either. But we are all entitled to pick where we buy our stuff from and that's fair enough, I wish these people good luck, the demographic seems right for their pricing structure.

Louisa.