Viral Reddit post mocking $22 grilled cheese sandwich helped sink Bay Area shop, owner says
A San Francisco Bay area restaurateur said she shut down both of her sandwich shops after Reddit users ripped her menu prices — including $34 for a steak and eggs and $22 for a grilled cheese sandwich.Kendra Kolling, founder of the artisanal sandwich shop The Farmer’s Wife in Marin County, told SFGATE that a challenging economic climate was made worse by a viral Reddit post from last year.A Redditor took to the subreddit r/bayarea and posted an item titled “Sandwich prices made me lol.”The post prominently featured a large photo of the menu items and prices at one of the two Farmer’s Wife locations just north of San Francisco.The author of the post added a caption which read: “We are doomed,” and the comment section quickly devolved into outright mockery, zeroing in on the $22 grilled cheese.“It’s $10 for a slice of cheese, and $10 for a slice of bread.$2 tip included.
Sounds reasonable for a sandwich shop in 21st-century dystopia,” one wrote.Another added: “I could start my own grilled cheese stand right outside for 22 bucks.”Reddit users also zeroed in on a slew of jaw-dropping prices beyond the grilled cheese, including a $34 “Steak + Eggs” sandwich made with beef filet, braised greens, a farm egg and aged cheddar.Another menu standout was the $32 hot pastrami, piled with Swiss, cheddar, pickles and house dressing.As the thread grew, jokes turned darker.“Is financing avail?” one user asked, prompting another to quip, “Klarna gives you a pay in 4 option,” followed by, “Three more payments and this reuben is gonna be all mine!”One commenter summed it up bluntly: “Haha you’d never financially recover after ordering the pastrami.”Kolling told SFGATE the viral Reddit post triggered a cascade of fallout online, with users flooding Yelp and Google with one-star reviews in what she described as review-bombing that sharply dragged down the shop’s ratings.She said the sudden surge of negative reviews hurt visibility and cus...