New Yorker Bagels From East Coast to West Coast, Japan, China and Korea
Posted by estiator at 20 June, at 15 : 13 PM Print
■ By BOB NICOLAIDES
THE NORM for any growing business is that young upstarts will begin in the other four boroughs, say, in Queens or Brooklyn, before they eventually grow in size and volume to warrant moving to Manhattan. This was not the case for president George Menegatos’ New Yorker Bagels Company, which had its humble beginnings in Manhattan only to transfer its facilities across the river to Astoria as it grew and experienced a tremendous expansion worldwide,.
Let’s try to follow George back in 1980 as he and his Chian partner, the late Nicholas Evangelinos, opened what they then called the Bagel Buffet right where Sixth Avenue meets Eighth Street in the heart of the Village, that picturesque part of New York City. Neither one of them at the time fathomed that one day, that humble establishment that made bagels by hand would sell its products around the world.
Indeed, in those days, bagels were all hand-made, from the plain to the sesame to the “everything.” It took the partners two years before they went from selling only in-store to begin selling their products outside the shop, to a market that included delis, restaurants and, needless to say, diners of all sizes.
The venture of selling outside the shop went so well that in 1985 the partners were encouraged to begin looking for larger quarters. With Manhattan being so congested, Menegatos expanded his search for new headquarters to the outer boroughs. Soon he found suitable quarters in Astoria, right on 36th Avenue and 31st Street, and named the new site New Yorker Wholesale Bagels Inc.
With the expansion to their new Astoria quarters, Menegatos and Evangelinos experienced an unprecedented boon, with the demand for their bagels reaching unexpected heights, which caused them to consider once again moving into much larger quarters. It would be their third time of transferring the business within less than seven years.
With the scope of business now much more wide than any time before, and with Nicholas Evangelinos’s son Stefanos joining the company, the business was on the move again, this time to 34-20 12th Street in Long Island City. Here their position was solidified, modern equipment for the production of bagels and bialys was installed.
Born in Assos of Cephalonia, George Menegatos arrived in the U.S. in 1972 and worked first as a waiter at the Assembly Steakhouse between 1973 and 1975. In 1978, having left that restaurant, he bought a coffee shop to which he devoted himself until he got into the partnership with Nicholas Evangelinos to create what would become New Yorker Bagels, one of the largest producers of bagels.
Wanting his son to benefit from the partnership and feeling that he was nearing retirement age, Nicholas Evangelinos turned over his part of the business to Stefanos as soon as the young man graduated from New York University. Much the same was taking place on the Menegatos side of the partnership. Joining the business was one of Menegatos’ sons, Steven. His other son, Spiro, had invested heavily in the restaurant business and is now operating with his partners the upscale, very successful establishment in Manhattan called Nerai on East 54th Street.
One must say that the operation at the 12th Street headquarters is one of great complexity, since it involves not only the making of their product but the logistics of distribution. It involves local, national, and international elements of expedition for the bagels and bialys. The logistics are incredible considering that many orders have to be distributed overseas on a daily or weekly basis.
Examine for instance the local level alone. Consider the tri-state area that New Yorker Bagels covers as having an enviable wholesale distribution that extends to supermarkets such as Citarella in the Hamptons and Manhattan and Whole Foods, Northeast operations. New Yorker Bagels provides institutions, hospitals, cafeterias, and businesses from here to California—including places like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Colorado, Miami, Anchorage—and from there all the way to Japan and China.
Last month, the management had something special to celebrate—striking a new deal with a South Korean concern. This gives them another international spot to service, but all in all, to quote George Menegatos, “The best business in the Tristate area emanates from the small bodegas to the big diners.” “In Manhattan alone” continues George, “over 7,000 customers and 95% of all pushcarts sell New Yorker Bagels.”
At the end of our conversation with George Menegatos and Stefanos Evangelinos in their office, George asked me to follow him in the bakery part of the shop, where he guided me through the various parts of machinery, from the dough trough past the fermentation, to the minute that the 30 varieties of shaped bagels on wood boards await an hour’s journey boiling in the kettle, entering the oven, continuing onto cooling conveyors after they have been baked, and finally being separated by the many varieties, packed and prepared for shipping.
This past March, New Yorker Bagels scored a 98.24% superior for good manufacturing practices by SAI GLOBAL. This is an independent third-party audit of manufacturing plant and products for cleanliness, safety and food quality. New Yorker Bagels has always scored in the top superior range in all of these audits. It must be said that their installations are always in a pristine condition.
To continue on the process, then begins the grueling task of assigning the customers’ orders according to destinations. The wrapped bagels must be separated into bundles, and if they are for local consumption, are given to the truck drivers for the local deliveries in the tri-state area. The overseas shipments are palletized and prepared for the long haul of a ship or airline trip.
“The wonderful thing about our bagels,” adds Evangelinos “is that they are always all natural and made fresh daily, handled and packed properly, and they will feel and taste great, just as the minute they came out of the oven. There should never be a doubt about that. Whether you eat our bagels in New York or in Tokyo, they are fresh and great.”
The company makes all bagels with the best and purest of ingredients, old-world techniques, patience and baking skills. “Our firm makes a large variety of bagels using an original old-world recipe for great kettle-boiled bagels,” emphasizes the chairman and president, Mr. Menegatos.
“Our most premium products,” adds CEO Stefanos Evangelinos, “are hand-rolled bagels, made in flavors like plain, poppy, sesame, onion, pumpernickel, salt, garlic, whole wheat, cinnamon raisin, everything, blueberry, egg, quinoa multigrain, and cranberry energy.” He then adds: “We have also come up with some new flavors: green and black Kalamata olive, jalapeno and red pepper, and apple raisin.”
“We also work with a company that makes healthier school foods for many states and we are serving North Carolina and Virginia Schools,” continues Menegatos. “Together with them, using a special recipe for protein-enriched bagels, we’ve created a delicious pizza bagel that is lower in fat and sugar, while being very rich in protein, fiber and nutrients.”
George steadfastly believes that advances in automation and equipment that allow him to keep that high level of quality will be here soon. “That,” he conveys with a degree of assurance, “will help my son and his young partner go much farther with the company. Because there is no limit to expansion in the field.”
One important ingredient in the company is that of philanthropy, which is part of their everyday business. It isn’t all profit. Thousands of bagels a month are distributed free to the homeless through various institutions, like City Harvest and Phoenix Halfway House. Various churches in the metropolitan area as well as many public schools benefit from the New Yorker Bagels Company’s philanthropic program.
No doubt, this is a partnership we must congratulate for their remarkable achievements as the company nears its 40th anniversary.
