July 13, 2008 – A year ago, Thomas MacDonough opened his St. Marks Place restaurant Mmm… Toast to rave reviews. Toast enthusiasts from throughout the world flocked to the small East Village eatery to sample hundreds of toast and topping combinations. In the past few months the herd thinned and thinned quickly.

“At first we had about 250 people a day come in,” said MacDonough surveying the empty tables dressed in an “I Love Toast” t-shirt and jeans. “Now we are lucky to get ten a week and half of them want change for the parking meter. We give more to City Harvest than we do to paying customers. After this Sunday no more toast.”

A few die hards, including Becky Gunderson of Williamsburg, are planning a “Toast In” on the last day. According to Gunderson, “We are going to get at least 50 people, maybe more if I can get enough Facebook friends to turn out.”

MacDonough plans to sell the 25 1950s vintage toasters used for toasting bread in order to help finance his next project in the space – The Water Bar. “It will have bottled waters from throughout the world. I already have 470 lined up. Hopefully everything will be in place by next Wednesday.”