RYE by Martin Auer sells one thing in Soho: a 3.3-pound Austrian rye sourdough for $60. The owners blame handmade bread, imported flour and New York rent.
Sixty dollars. For bread.
That’s the price of a full loaf at RYE by Martin Auer, a new bakery at 285 Lafayette St. in New York’s Soho neighborhood. It first made headlines earlier this month. Then a post on X showing the price tag racked up more than 2 million views this week, and the internet had questions.
Mostly one question, really. Why?
What is the $60 bread in New York?
It’s a 100% organic rye sourdough that weighs about 3.3 pounds, or 1.5 kilograms, according to Euronews and Fox News.
That’s the only thing the shop bakes. There are no croissants or bagels, and no baguettes either. Just rye.
“We never wanted to simply open another bakery in New York,” Martin Auer told Falstaff. He said the city already has plenty of great wheat bread and coffee, so the family decided to focus on the one thing they do best.
Who is Martin Auer?
Auer runs a family bakery business from Graz, Austria, with more than 40 shops back home. Falstaff puts the count at 43.
The Soho shop is the brand’s first location outside Austria. It also sits in a building David Bowie used to call home, per Falstaff. So the rent is probably not cheap.
Why does the rye bread cost $60?
The Auers point to three things: how it’s made, where the ingredients come from and where the shop is.
The recipe is short. It’s just flour, water and salt, with the flour shipped over from Austria. The starter is more than 50 years old. Each loaf ferments for about 24 hours, bakes for around 70 minutes and then rests for at least eight hours before it’s sold, according to Euronews.
The bread comes out of a two-ton oven that was brought in from Germany.
Then there’s the address. Martin Auer told Euronews that New York is “one of the most expensive cities in the entire world.” Co-owner Tim Auer gave Fox News a similar answer about handmade bread and imported ingredients.
Is $60 bread actually a good deal?
Depends how you do the math.
A 3.3-pound loaf is a lot of bread. At $60, it works out to about $18 a pound, or $40 per kilogram. Euronews notes that bakeries in Germany usually charge somewhere between 5 and 10 euros per kilogram for rye.
So you’re paying four to eight times the European price. That’s a lot, even for Soho.
The Infatuation tried it and liked it. The critic called the bread dense, tangy and very moist. The verdict, though, was that it’s “not, however, $60 good.”
Can you buy a smaller piece of the $60 loaf?
Yes, and that’s the move most people seem to make.
The shop sells a half loaf for $30 and a quarter loaf for $15. You can also get single slices with spreads for about $6 to $14. An open-faced PB&J is $6.
If you want to go all in, there are jars of spreads for around $18 to $20. There’s even a $55 linen cover to keep your bread fresh.
What are people saying about the $60 bread on X?
The replies to the viral post were about what you’d expect.
Lots of people compared prices back home. One user said rye costs about 4 euros, or roughly $5, in Finland and is sold everywhere.
Others went for the jokes. “Have you considered that it might be post-economic bread?” one user asked. Another went with “Fear and Loafing in the Big Apple.”
Not everyone was mad about it. One reply that drew hundreds of likes said there was a line out the door this past weekend.
Is the $60 bread a status symbol?
That’s the theory some folks are floating. Euronews asked whether the loaf could become a New York status symbol.
A good chunk of commenters on X said the same thing. In their view, you’re paying to be seen buying the bread as much as for the bread itself.
When is RYE by Martin Auer open?
The shop is open every day from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to Martin Auer’s website. It’s on Lafayette Street in Soho, near the Broadway-Lafayette subway station.
If you’re curious but not $60 curious, a quarter loaf will let you taste it for the price of a movie ticket. Just maybe don’t buy the linen cover yet.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Hat Tips:
Euronews (Sept. 16, 2026), the loaf size, recipe, fermentation and baking times, oven, per-kilo comparison and Martin Auer quote
Fox News (Sept. 16, 2026), the price, Tim Auer’s explanation and online reaction
Falstaff (Sept. 11, 2026), the location count, first shop outside Austria, the Bowie building and the Martin Auer quote
The Infatuation (Sept. 16, 2026), the taste review, quarter-loaf and PB&J prices
Bloomberg (Sept. 18, 2026), the viral coverage
Martin Auer (accessed Sept. 21, 2026), store hours and menu prices
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