The $60 rye bread that sent me into a doom spiral

Dear Pros,

Erika here. Last week, approximately nine hours after I had drained the last of a mini Espresso Martini at the 2026 Best New Chefs after-party, I found myself in a very different situation. I was on a mission to buy an ultra-expensive rye bread and cart it back to the office for a team taste test.

Earlier this month, Austrian bakery RYE by Martin Auer opened an outpost in New York City. It primarily sells one item: a $60 loaf of rye sourdough bread. It's a shocking price tag, and the internet exploded in response. German supermarket chain Lidl mocked the bakery on social media. TOAD Bakery in London made a gigantic, 15-pound version of the bread.

Naturally, all this noise has been very good for business. Bakery co-owner Tim Auer told our sibling publication People that the bakery has sold out nearly every day since it opened two weeks ago. When I rolled up at 9:55 a.m. on Wednesday morning, there was no line. The air conditioning had broken (even exorbitantly expensive bakeries can't escape NYC building infrastructure pitfalls) and two cheerful staffers were standing behind a makeshift counter at the front door. They seemed to be taking the online furor in stride. One joked that the bread was so good, his colleague quit his job at SpaceX to work at the bakery. They handed out free samples of the rye topped with a generous swipe of very good butter. I was on my way, lugging the 3.3-pound disc of rye under one arm, within three minutes.

I'll let you read through our findings to see how it stacked up against other rye sourdough loaves, but I will say that no one is about to put this rye into their weekly bread rotation. The whole kerfuffle connects to a larger conversation about how much it costs to eat in this country right now, whether it's a $40 half chicken or a $475 Martini (previously priced at $800, $300, and $275) on a restaurant menu or a sky-high grocery bill.

From 2020 onward, I've been steadily losing my grip on what something should cost. I have already accepted a new normal of walking out of CVS with toothpaste, toilet paper, laundry soap, paper towels, and an $80 receipt. At the bakery, I glitched ever so briefly when the employee swiveled the iPad in my direction and I was prompted to leave a 20% tip. A $72 rye? Something is wrong here. But my finger was already tapping to purchase before my brain caught up. At this point, it sounds more normal than not.

Pros, what are the most unreasonable costs that you are seeing right now, especially for those of you who own restaurants? More importantly, how are you defining an unreasonable cost, as opposed to the price you must pay for quality in a chaotic economy impacted by factors beyond our control? Where is this headed? Are we in a doom spiral‽ Let me know at the email below.

Take care,
Erika