What Makes a Great NY Bagel?

The Secret to Creating a NY Bagel

Many bagel enthusiasts will tell you that you can't get a great bagel outside of New York. They'll say it's the water that makes it so unique. But, is it really the water? The short answer is no. While water chemistry does influence the baking process making them soft and chewy, it's the production that is the real hero. New York City water is unique in that is is very soft compared to other big cities. Water hardness enhances the strength of the gluten, the protein compound that toughens baked goods. This explains why bagels outside of New York are tougher and harder to chew.

Far more influential is the production process of bagels. NY bagel shops typically boil the bagels before baking them in the oven. The bagels are placed in a big kettle of simmering water for a few minutes before entering the dry, hot oven. This makes the chewy interior of the bagel and also slightly changes the flavor profile. Some bagel places skip this process. The boiling kettle is very expensive and large so they will brush the bagels with a little water and some baking soda. Then they will blast them with steam once they are in the oven. You can tell a bagel hasn't been boiled if the bottom is darker and tougher than the rest of the surface. This is because the steam cannot get to the bottom of the bagel on it is placed in the oven.  It's essentially a roll with a hole.

Another secret to the great NY bagel is the fermentation process. The dough is allowed to ferment slowly in wooden containers for hours. This process allows the yeast to produce many different flavor compounds. These also not only permeate the dough, but they also seep into the wood used giving the final product a unique flavor that cannot be replicated by newer bakeries.

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NY Bagel Cafe Expands With Kiosks

New Concept Primes Expansion and Increases Value

NY Bagel Cafe & Deli, the breakfast and lunch franchise, announced a new kiosk program going into effect this year. With average sales up in the first quarter, NY Bagel Cafe has decided to make the concept more accessible for further expansion. The new kiosk design will be suitable for malls, airports, hospitals and office buildings. It will also be more cost effective to build out as compared to a full service location.

"We already have the best value in our industry. Now we want to make it more accessible to the average person and continue to spread the wealth." - Joe Smith, President NY Bagel Enterprises

NY Bagel Cafe currently offers 2 franchise locations for the franchise fee of $29,500. A complete store build out can be done for under $200,000 compared to $400,000 - $600,000 by some competitors. The new kiosk program is slated to come in under $100,000 with the smaller footprint and equipment.

When compared to other low cost franchise concepts, NY Bagel Cafe & Deli provides more value. It is not just a bagel shop. The vast menu includes gourmet wraps and Panini sandwiches, 100% fruit smoothies, soups, salads, and gourmet Green Mountain Coffee. Pair that with a brisk catering business and one can see the value included for minimal cost.

“Keeping our costs low allows us to provide people the opportunity to own their own business achieve the American dream” Smith added.

Establishing Your Brand In a New Area

Leveraging the Community to Your Benefit

When opening a franchise that is new to the area it can be difficult to get established as a community hub. Many people love a place where they can get together and have a nice meal in a friendly atmosphere. The desire to create such a place can have its challenges if you are not prepared to the work needed. Here is some advice to achieve long term success by staying relevant in the community and leveraging the unique qualities of of your product. 

1. Customers are the source

From the first day of business it is important to pay attention to your customers and stay committed to them. Make it a point to be in your store and speak with your customers. They drive your business and can also have a lot to say about the community needs. You are doing a disservice if you don't listen to them. You also cannot simply open a business and then walk away expecting terrific results. If you don't stay connected to your business and your customers, the business isn't going to work.

2. Hit the Ground Running

Advertising before you open is a huge part of getting business in the door. A simple "Coming Soon" sign will generate a buzz in the community. Use social media to also create that buzz about your business. Simply posting something to your Facebook page can get you a ton of feedback and create word-of-mouth exposure that you can't create on your own. While you may have a decent amount of foot traffic upon opening, you should still get involved in the community right away. Joining the local chamber of commerce is a great way to get involved. There are always activities and meetings. These are business owners just like you. The opportunities become more apparent to you as a business owner. Don't say "no" to an opportunity that can expand your business. Ask other business owners questions about sponsorships and fund raising events. Community involvement can be difficult and time consuming, but the rewards are endless.

3. Capitalize on Local Events

Community based events and fundraisers are relatively low cost for a business. There isn't much work involved in speaking to other local businesses, schools and other establishments. Rely on your past work experience. Was your previous employer involved with a local charity or fundraiser? Use that to your advantage. Being able to give back to the community will also be truly gratifying.

4. Use your Employees and Customers

By keeping your ear to the ground in and outside of your business, opportunities will come. Example, if you have an employee who is involved with a local charity see if you can help with that charity as well. The same goes for customers. If there is a local group that needs a place to meet, let them know that they can use your location. If you are new in the area, get advice from your customers about the community, where to go, and more. Loyal customers will always be on your side. The vital key is making them loyal and that starts on the first day.

NY Bagel Cafe Coming to North Jersey

River Vale Location Under Construction

NY Bagel Cafe & Deli, the breakfast and lunch franchise, is coming to River Vale, NJ sometime this Spring. The new location will be located at 215 Rivervale Road, a modern shopping center. Permits have been received and construction has begun at a quick pace.

The newest franchisee is Dorota Goetz who has frequently visited the area and fell in love with it. After a few years of working her late husband’s rangehood business, she decided to pursue something of great interest to her, cooking.

“After careful research I came upon NY Bagel Cafe & Deli franchising opportunity. The fit just seemed right, especially as this was going to be my first time getting into the food industry. After meeting with Joe, the company owner, I quickly realized my search was over” said Dorota.

 River Vale will now have a great neighborhood deli and cafe for families and people of all ages to enjoy great food. “I’m so excited to be part of something like NY Bagel Cafe & Deli and the opportunity they have given me” Dorota added, “I cannot wait.”

Future Location of NY Bagel Cafe & Deli

Franchises opportunities are available nationwide. Single and multi-units available. For more information on owning a NY Bagel Cafe franchise visit nybagelcafefranchise.com or nybagelcafe.com/franchising.

NY Bagel Cafe and Deli Supports Our Troops

Great Bagel. Great Place.

Continues to Offer Discount to Military Personnel and Veterans

The breakfast and lunch franchise NY Bagel Cafe & Deli announced today that it will continue its Military Program for the foreseeable future. The program offers a $5,000 discount on the franchise fee to military personnel as well as veterans. In addition to this, NY Bagel Cafe also gives the rights to a second store at no extra cost.

"Individuals with a military background make great franchisees. They follow directions easily, stick to the system and know what it takes to be successful. They get the job done." – Joseph Smith, President and CEO NY Bagel Enterprises

The typical franchise fee of $29,500 will now be $24,500 for veterans and military personnel. Additional discounts will also be available for multi-unit and area developer agreements.

"This is our way of giving back to the people that protect our freedom," Smith said. "It also allows us to expand our brand and provide business opportunities to people transitioning back to the civilian world."

Franchise opportunities are available nationwide. For more information on owning a NY Bagel Cafe & Deli Franchise visit nybagelcafefranchise.com or nybagelcafe.com/franchising.

NY Bagel Cafe Goes Green

Celebrates St. Patrick's Day with Style

Each and every year, as the tradition goes, NY Bagel Cafe & Deli offers green bagels on St. Patrick's Day.  This year is no different. Green bagels are on their way to participating NY Bagel Cafe locations across the country. In addition to the green bagels, NY Bagel will also add a new coffee flavor for a limited time. Irish Cream will be the new seasonal flavor and will stay on while supplies last.

NY Bagel Cafe will begin serving the green bagels on Friday March 14th and will continue to do so until they run out. The green bagels can be paired with scallion cream cheese to continue the Irish green motif. Visit our location page to find green bagels near you.

Franchise opportunities available nationwide. For more information about owning a NY Bagel Cafe franchise visit nybagelcafefranchise.com. 

NY Bagel Cafe & Deli Rolls Out Gluten Free Items

Product Line Growing to Fit Special Needs

NY Bagel Cafe & Deli, the breakfast and lunch franchise, announced today that it will begin serving gluten free bagels and breads in its locations. With the recent increase in people diagnosed with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, gluten free diets have been researched by doctors from all avenues of the nutritional spectrum. Gluten free diets can have a variety of health benefits such as improving cholesterol levels, promoting digestive health, and an increase in energy levels if you have a gluten intolerance.

What is Gluten?

Wheat, a prime source of gluten

Gluten is a protein that is found in foods such as cereals, certain grains and wheat. The main purpose of gluten is to keep the elasticity intact in dough during the fermentation process helping it rise and keep its shape. Gluten makes bread chewy and prevents other foods from having a sticky, dough-like texture.

True gluten is a composite of gliadin and glutenin which is conjoined with starch in the endosperm of various grass related grains. The stored proteins of rice and corn are sometimes referred to as glutens, but their proteins differ from true gluten.

About 1 in 133 people in developed nations have an intolerance  to gluten. Gluten sensitivity is classified as an "intolerance", not an "allergy". Between 0.5 and 1 percent of people in the US and UK are sensitive to gluten due to celiac disease which constitutes an abnormal immune reaction to partially digested gliadin.

What products will be Gluten-Free?

NY Bagel Cafe will have an extensive line of gluten free products including:

• Bagels
• Artisan Breads
• Sandwich Breads

The gluten free items require special manufacturing procedures and ingredients in their production. Because of this, the roll out may take some time to reach all franchise locations. NY Bagel Cafe & Deli is committed to making sure all franchise locations offer the new gluten free products.

NY Bagel Cafe Food Slideshow

NY Bagel Cafe & Deli Expanding in 2014

New Locations Set to Open in Near Future

NY Bagel Cafe & Deli is continuing its expansion efforts in the US. After successful openings in Louisiana and California, we’re looking to get back to the East Coast and continue our expansion here. Our upcoming locations will include Doral, FL, Washington DC and River Vale, NJ within the next few of months.

In response to the positive feedback we've received, NY Bagel Cafe will continue to offer franchise opportunities across the country. Prime areas are available nationally with single and multi-unit opportunities obtainable.

NY Bagel Cafe & Deli is an easy and workable system that is simple to learn. NY Bagel Cafe franchisees receive complete training and counsel every step of the way. Site selection recommendations and lease negotiations are built into the support system. The typical layers of support are consolidated into a small group with accessibility to the CEO, whereas other operations have several layers of management and varied support within their structure. NY Bagel Cafe strives to provide franchisees with the best tools and knowledge to run a successful local business and encourages owners to learn the skills that will allow them to own multiple units.

NY Bagel Cafe is well known for REAL NY bagels baked fresh daily in all locations across the country. Aside from our 20 different varieties of Artisan bagels, NY Bagel Cafe also offers bialys, flagels, bagel sticks and a line of gluten-free bagels. NY Bagel Cafe offers high quality food using fresh ingredients such as real eggs (NOT microwaved) in the breakfast sandwiches, fresh produce for salads and 100% crushed fruit smoothies. NY Bagel Cafe isn't just great bagels either. Also offered are wraps, Panini sandwiches, knishes and Hot Pastrami sandwiches, a NY deli staple.

You’ll find that NY Bagel Cafe & Deli runs rings around other bagel shops with a delicious array of complementary foods like popular Boar’s Head deli meats and cheeses, the smoothest flavored cream cheeses, succulent smoked salmon and richly brewed gourmet coffees. How about Panini sandwiches, popular wrap sandwiches, freshly prepared salads and fresh baked goods? We feature REAL NY Water Bagels and Bialys baked fresh every day.

Come join us. We’re looking to “Spread the Wealth!”

NY Bagel Introduces Bagel Burgers

 

Beef Up Your Bagel Campaign Launches

  The breakfast and lunch franchise, NY Bagel Cafe & Deli, launched a new menu item, the Bagel Burger, which is now available in several styles. Every year, 13 billion burgers are eaten in the United States. So, NY Bagel paired their already delicious bagels with America's favorite lunch, the burger.  

"The bagel is no longer just for breakfast," said Joseph Smith, CEO of NY Bagel Enterprises. "There are no burger buns here."

  The initial launch has several flavors that consumers are sure to love such as the Classic Cheeseburger, Mushroom & Swiss, Spicy Burger with Jalapeños and the BBQ Bacon & Cheddar. There are plans in the future to include a Veggie Burger to the lineup. With a lineup featuring popular wraps, salads, and Panini sandwiches, NY Bagel expands their already diverse lunch menu with the addition of Bagel Burgers. "We want our customers to have variety when they visit one of our locations" Smith added.

For more information on owning a NY Bagel Cafe & Deli franchise, visit www.nybagelcafe.com.

The History of the Bagel.

              The History of the Bagel          

              Enjoy Americas Favorite Bagel         

  by; N.Y.Bagel Cafe

A bagel is a round bread, with a hole in the middle made of simple ingredients: high-gluten flour, yeast, salt, water, and malt. Its dough is boiled, then baked, and the result should be a rich caramel color. It should not be pale and blond. A bagel should weigh five ounces or less and should make a slight crackling sound when you bite into it. A bagel should be eaten warm and, ideally, should be no more than four to five hours old when consumed. All else is not a bagel.

The bagel's birthplace is considered to be Poland. A story popular in the United States is that the first bagel was produced as a tribute to Jan Sobieski, 17th Century King of Poland, after he saved Austria from Turkish invaders at the battle of Vienna in 1683. According to Maria Balinska, the author of "The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread" (Yale University Press) it is just that-a story.

The first known reference to the bagel among Jews in Poland, according to Balinska, precedes the Battle of Vienna by seven decades. It is found, she says, in regulations issued in Yiddish in 1610 by the Jewish Council of Krakow outlining how much Jewish households were permitted to spend in celebrating the circumcision of a baby boy- "to avoid making Gentile neighbors envious, and also to make sure poorer Jews weren't living above their means."

Eastern European immigrants arriving in the United States at the turn of the 20th century brought the bagel with them to the streets of the Lower East Side. The rise of the bagel in New York in inextricably tied to that of the trade unions, specifically Bagel Bakers Local 338, a federation of nearly 300 bagel craftsmen formed in NYC in the early 1900%u2032s.

Local 338 was, by all accounts, a tough and unswerving union. It was set up according to strict rules that limited new membership to the sons of current members. By 1915, it controlled 36 bagel bakeries in New York and New Jersey. These bakeries produced the original New York Bagels, the standard against which all others are still, in some manner judged.

What did they look like? They were a mere three ounces. They were smaller and denser than their modern descendants with a crustier exterior and chewier interior. They were made entirely by hand.

Local 338 held its ironclad grip on the bagel market for nearly half a century, until industrial bagel-making machines were introduced into the market in the early 1960s. The introduction of the bagel machines meant any retailer or bakery owner could make their own bagels with non-union help #nybagelcafe

Advantages of Owning a Franchise

Great Bagel. Great Place.

Advantages of Owning A Franchise

You could start a business of your own without involving anyone other than your advisers – an accountant, a solicitor and a banker. But many people who want to be their own boss would prefer to do so within the comfort zone of a tried and tested business model. They don’t want to make a painful journey around the learning curve reinventing the wheel.

In franchising, someone has already done the work establishing the business, and has ironed out the wrinkles. The franchisor is now prepared to share that expertise with franchisees for a financial consideration. Basically, a franchise is a conveyor belt to faster business ownership and success.

And although like anything else in life there are pros and cons involved, the benefits of franchising outweigh the disadvantages. Obviously no business alliance should be entered into without diligent evaluation, but subject to satisfaction at the end of that process, franchising has advantages that suit ambitious individuals.

The Benefits

• The business has already been proven to work. The franchisor and the network of busily trading franchisees are testimony to that.

• You are fully trained in all aspects of the business, and sometimes your business partner and/or key staff receive training too.

• The brand is established. People recognise it. It’s embedded.

• There is an operating system that can be learned and then implemented, either to the letter or with a degree of flexibility.

• The franchisor helps to find a good location that will deliver traffic if that’s what is needed (e.g. for retail or food outlets) or that will be cost efficient if visibility is not paramount (e.g. for cleaning or home improvement businesses).

• Marketing tools and ad campaigns are provided both nationally for the brand and locally for individual branches. The majority of franchisors also help franchisees make a major local impact with a publicised launch of the business.

• Franchisees receive ongoing support from good franchisors, delivered via phone, a company intranet, newsletters, regular visits by a representative from the corporate office, regional meetings and annual conventions.

• Centralised purchasing is a feature of many franchises where the franchisee benefits from discounted pricing on goods for a retail store or ingredients for a restaurant and other supplies.

• There are many different types of franchise opportunities available, with various investment commitment levels that can range from minimal to more substantial. For those not ready to leave their 'day jobs', there are plenty of offerings that require only a part-time commitment that grows gradually. Ambitious entrepreneurs, who want to totally commit themselves to owning a business, have a vast range of choices. http://nybagelcafe.com/franchising/

Intro to NY Bagel Cafe and Deli

The Reason NY Bagels are the Best

Is it the Water or the Process

If you've ever had New York Bagels, you know that they have a shiny, chewy, golden crust and a dense and chewy interior. And if you’ve ever lived in New York, you know it is almost impossible to eat what other people consider to be “bagels,” which are lightweight, fluffy, white, flavorless bread rolls with a “mass production” look about them.

The reason? New York bagels are boiled before being baked, while “other” bagels are steamed. Boiling them gives them the dense, chewy texture and crust. But steaming bagels is easier and cheaper. Bagels need to be proofed for at least 12 hours at a low temperature- so they sit in the refrigerator on trays. If they need to be boiled afterwards, it requires removing them from their trays and putting them back afterwards for the baking process. Steaming occurs while the bagels are still on the trays during the baking process, and so a lot less effort is required. Which also means less employees, less time, and less cost. But unless the bagels are boiled, they are essentially just rolls with holes.

NY Bagel Cafe Gives a Taste of the Seasons

New Flavors Added to Menu for Limited Time

New York Bagel Café & Deli has added some new flavors to their menu that exemplify this time of year. These seasonal items added feature flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg and other spices customers enjoy this time of year. The offerings include a Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese, Green Mountain’s Pumpkin Spiced Coffee, Pumpkin Spiced Cappuccino and Eggnog Cappuccino (where available). The menu items will be available for a limited time.

“The Fall and upcoming holiday season are a time for people to come together. The warm flavors of nutmeg and other seasonal spices not only go well with our menu, but they also bring out the feelings of camaraderie and family observances,” says Eric Lugo, Operations Director for New York Bagel Café & Deli. “At NY Bagel, we take pride in meeting the wants and needs of our customers. We hope they enjoy and savor our contributions.”

Customers can enjoy any bagel topped with NY Bagel Cafe’s Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese that is made with real pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon and brown sugar. The Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese, just like all of NY Bagel’s flavored cream cheeses, is made on premises to ensure that it is always fresh. The use of real pumpkin is essential to the flavor profile that is just right for fall days.
For coffee lovers, NY Bagel Cafe offers the hugely popular Green Mountain’s Pumpkin Spiced Coffee that is available while supplies last. The sweet, creamy flavors of cinnamon and nutmeg make this coffee perfect for the fall’s crisper days and cooler nights. Once gone, locations will transition to either Green Mountain’s Spicy Eggnog or Gingerbread coffee. The Spicy Eggnog coffee features rich cinnamon and nutmeg giving the warm flavors of the holiday season while the Gingerbread coffee gives the flavors and aroma of fresh baked gingerbread. Seasonal cappuccino and latte flavors will include Pumpkin Spice and Eggnog. Both are available hot or iced and topped with cinnamon.