The Story of Lender's Bagels or The Making of America's Favorite Bagel.

Lender's[R] Bagel Bakery has been baking bagels in America since 1927, when my late Dad, Harry, came over from Lublin, Poland. I am proud to be part of a lineage that has taken the bagel from being an ethnic baked-good to being a mainstay of the American palate. Believe me, when we were baking bagels in our backyard in New Haven, we never imagined that Lender's would become America's Favorite Bagel.

People often ask me, "How did you ever sell a frozen bagel to the trade in North Dakota or Wyoming!!" I usually answer "with a huge amount of difficulty and courage." My father, my brothers Marvin and Sam, and I wanted Lender's to be on the leading edge of technology and quality so we continued to innovate and problem-solve until we were selling almost a billion bagels a year. Let me explain.

History of Bagels

The bagel has always been lucky for me and my family. In fact, the bagel has a history of being a good luck symbol. In Poland, bagels were given as gifts to women in childbirth for good luck in producing a healthy child. Mothers gave them to their babies as nutritious teething rings. In Russia, hot bagels, called "bubliki," were sold on strings in the cold Russian towns to warm and nourish the town folk.

Even the legend of how the first bagel came to be has a bit of romance in it. It is said that more than three centuries ago in Vienna, Austria, a grateful baker created a special gift for the King of Poland for saving his country from Turkish invaders. And thus, in 1683, the bagel was born. The hard roll, shaped to resemble a stirrup ("beugel" in Austrian), was said to commemorate the King's favorite pastime -- horseback riding. Ever since then, the bagel's popularity has spread from country to country until the early 1900s when it finally made the jump to America.

Lender's Innovation Tells the Tale

So there we were, baking about 50 dozen bagels a day in our back yard. We were selling them to our Jewish neighbors for their Sunday brunches. More and more we were also selling them to our Italian and Irish neighbors, too. We were still making them by hand of course, only now we had to make them faster.

We did this till about 1955, when we got the idea to bag our bagels and sell them to local grocery. This was very successful. But we kept running into one issue -- we couldn't deliver the bagels very far from the bakery without the risk of them going stale. We didn't want to add preservatives, but we had to find a way to keep the freshness while maintaining the quality.

In 1962, the second generation (Marvin, Sam and I) froze our first bagel. This was the perfect solution! We could bake the bagels as we always did, only immediately afterward freeze them, thus locking in the freshness and quality during shipping. We were ecstatic. But could we make enough of these little roundies?

As always, keeping up with demand was the wonderful problem that dogged us through the mid-60s. Finally, in 1965, Sam hit upon the solution. He helped make the first automated bagel-baking equipment operational. Now we could really take the bagel on the road. And that, of course, was my job.

Bagelizing America

I started out selling the frozen bagel idea to supermarkets in New York and New England. You have to understand, though, that I wasn't always met with the same enthusiasm I brought to these sales meetings. In fact, back then many buyers felt that the frozen bagel was the craziest idea they had heard of in years! Fortunately, our good-natured persistence -- and our delicious bagels -- won out and soon bagel-lovers all over the East Coast were enjoying the convenience and quality of Lender's frozen bagels.

For the next 14 years, as my wife, Joyce, will attest to, I probably saw a hotel room more often than I saw home. Like the original pioneers, we took our frozen bagel and headed West. By 1976 we had bagelized California. But we didn't stop there. No sir! We continued northward and westward, successfully selling-in both Alaska and Hawaii. (It was quite a feat, you know, selling the concept of a frozen bagel to Alaska.)

Bagels, Bagels Everywhere

Today, Lender's Bagels can be found in all sections of the grocery store. Our original bagel, the frozen 2 oz, is one of our best-selling items. It's frozen within one hour of being baked and has no preservatives in it. Its 2 oz size makes it perfect for athletes who need their carbohydrates, dieters counting their calories and anyone else desiring a smaller bagel (it has less than a gram of fat and 150 calories). It also fits in the toaster perfectly and it's pre-sliced!

Now we've taken frozen bagels one step further with our special Big & Crusty bagels. These large, 3 oz bagels have gone through an extra baking step: retardation. That's when we give the yeast more time to ferment, thus developing both the taste and texture of the bagel. Retardation is what gives the bagel its crusty outside and chewy inside. We started Big & Crusty years ago and have slowly introduced them across the country so now they are available everywhere.

These come in six flavors: plain, egg, onion, cinnamon raisin, honey wheat and blueberry. Best of all, they have only one gram of fat, 200 calories and they're preservative free!

Obviously, every one has their personal favorites, but there's strong opinion out there that the Big & Crusty's rival the taste of bake shop bagels. I know it's one of my favorites. But then, I like them all!

Topping It Off

The real sticky subject is about what you put on top of a Lender's Bagel. I, myself, prefer to eat a toasted plain bagel (any Lender's variety will do) and top it with a smear of cream cheese. Note that I didn't call it a schmear (when you put on a serious amount of cream cheese). I prefer a smear. That's defined as just the right amount to give you the great flavor of a bagel with cream cheese yet still keep your doctor happy.

Only in America 

After some 60 years in the bagel business, it's hard to believe how many bagels we've "cut," how many miles I've travelled, and how many internal programs and procedures Sam and Marvin developed. It was all worth it, of course. For all the hard work and time invested, I have come to know some of the greatest people in America. And they have all helped make Lender's a success. Trust me, my Dad could never have imagined the numbers of bagels we bake today and the number of places who now call the bagel their own. And we thank all of you.