Lender's Bagels
Encyclopedia
Bagel
A bagel is a bread product, traditionally shaped by hand into the form of a ring from yeasted wheat dough, roughly hand-sized, which is first boiled for a short time in water and then baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior...
s that pioneered the bagel industry in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Established in 1927 in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
, it became a North American leader in the marketing, distribution and sales of bagels. Lender's introduced frozen bagels and sold the first packaged bagels in supermarkets, eventually becoming the world's biggest bagel producer. The company was sold to Kraft Foods Inc. in 1984 and is part of Pinnacle Foods Group Inc.
Pinnacle Foods
Pinnacle Foods Group LLC is a leading packaged foods company headquartered in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, owned by The Blackstone Group. Pinnacle Foods is a key player in the shelf stable and frozen food categories and their products can be found in more than 85% of American households.The company...
since 2003.
In New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the informal border separating the land of fresh bagels from that of frozen assembly-line bagels is called the Lender's Line.
Beginnings
Lender's Bagel Bakery was established by Harry Lender, a Jewish baker originally from ChelmChelm
Chełm is a city in eastern Poland with 67,702 inhabitants . It is located to the south-east of Lublin, north of Zamość and south of Biała Podlaska, some 25 kilometres from the border with Ukraine...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
who had immigrated to the United States from Lublin in August 1927. After first working in a bagel bakery in Passaic, New Jersey
Passaic, New Jersey
Passaic is a city in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 69,781, maintaining its status as the 15th largest municipality in New Jersey with an increase of 1,920 residents from the 2000 Census population of 67,861...
, Lender purchased his own bakery on Oak Street in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
for $600, and brought his family to join him in the United States on December 30, 1929. New Haven then had a population of over 162,000, many of them new immigrants, and a Jewish population of 25,000, accounting for almost one sixth of the population. Lender's bagel bakery, called the "New York Bagel Bakery", was one of the first bagel bakeries in the United States to be established outside of New York City. In 2007, the site of the first Lender's bagel bakery was dedicated as a playground and named after one of Harry Lenders sons “Murray Lender Playground”.
In 1934, Lender moved to a large former Italian bakery, in a multiethnic neighborhood of New Haven. Aside from sales to individuals, Lender sold his bagels to other bakeries as well as delicatessens and restaurants. As the largest sales of bagels came on Sunday morning, Saturday night was the busiest time at the bakery, and people of all ethnicities even from out of town, began to stop by the bakery on Saturday nights to purchase fresh bagels.
New processes lead to growth
By the mid 1950s, the logistics of producing as many as 6,000 bagels for sale on Sunday morning, in contrast to relatively low activity the rest of the week, began to demand a solution. As a result, in 1954 Lender perfected a method of freezing the bagels, so that the labor could be spread more evenly throughout the week. This was kept secret, but after two years, the bakery accidentally delivered the frozen bagels, and the secret was revealed. Customers were initially angry, but were won over, when they realised that these were the same bagels they had been satisfied with for the previous two years, and the New York Bagel Bakery started to market the frozen bagels, delivering them also outside of New Haven, for instance to resorts in the Catskills.Further refinements were developed, such as pre-slicing the bagels and packing them in polyethylene
Polyethylene
Polyethylene or polythene is the most widely used plastic, with an annual production of approximately 80 million metric tons...
bags to keep them fresh after thawing, and the bakery began selling the packaged frozen bagels in supermarkets. To introduce bagels to an unfamiliar public, the Lender family would prepare and distribute them in supermarket aisles. The plastic bagged, frozen six pack of presliced Lender's Frozen Bagels began to gain market share, and by 1959 supermarket sales accounted for half of the sales. New varieties of bagels were invented, and production was switched over to rotary ovens, rather than labor intensive open, flat ovens.
In 1960, Harry Lender died, and his sons Sam and Murray, who had been running the bakery with him, continued. (Oldest son Hyman had previously left the family business.) When youngest son Marvin graduated from college, he became a partner as well, and shortly thereafter Sam retired. The two brothers teamed up to expand operations, with Marvin managing the bakery and Murray in charge of sales.
In 1963 the Lenders leased the very first Thompson Bagel Machine, invented by Daniel T. Thompson. Until then, according to Thompson, “Sam Lender mixed the bagel dough and one man cut it into small slabs and fed it into an Italian breadstick machine. The Italian breadstick machine made bagel dough strips that were then distributed to workstations where six to eight men rolled them by hand into bagels. With this system they averaged 50 dozen bagels per hour per man. The first Thompson machine, with three unskilled workers, was able to do the work of eight skilled workers.”
Large scale expansion
In 1965 the bakery, now renamed "Lender's Bagel Bakery", moved to a 12000 square feet (1,114.8 m²) plant on the Boston Post RoadBoston Post Road
The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into the first major highways in the United States.The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York...
in West Haven
West Haven
- Places :Australia:* West Haven, New South WalesNew Zealand:* Westhaven suburb, in Auckland* Westhaven Marina, in the suburb of the same name, in AucklandUnited States:* Westhaven, California * West Haven, Connecticut* West Haven, Oregon...
, in order to have ample reserve capacity for expansion; business increased so quickly that the bakery was working at full capacity within a year. The Lenders began flash-freezing the bagels and produced softer and sweeter bagels than was traditional.
In 1974, Lender’s had bought their major competitor, Abel's Bagels in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. In 1978 the family opened a bagel restaurant in Orange, Connecticut
Orange, Connecticut
Orange is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 13,233 at the 2000 census. A 2007 Census Bureau estimate puts the population at 13,813. The town is governed by a Board of Selectmen.-History:...
under the name “H. Lender and Sons”, two years later they opened a second one in Hamden
Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant." Hamden is home to Quinnipiac University. The population was 58,180 according to the Census Bureau's 2005 estimates...
. After Lender's Bagels was sold to Kraft Foods, the name of the restaurant was changed to S. Kinder Restaurants. The name is derived from Yiddish esst, kinder, meaning eat, children.
Under Marvin and Murray Lender, Lender's Bagels eventually grew to a highly automated 25000 square feet (2,322.6 m²) bakery, pioneering the modern automated bagel bakery. The company grew from six employees when it moved to West Haven to 600 in 1984, selling about $60 million worth of bagels from four bagel factories producing more than 750,000,000 bagels a year, becoming the world's biggest bagel producer.
New ownerships
In the spring of 1984, the Lender family sold Lender's Frozen Bagels to Kraft FoodsKraft Foods
Kraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...
, with the stipulation that Marvin would remain president and Murray spokesman for the next two years. Murray Lender publicized the sale in characteristic form, by holding "the marriage of the century", with Murray and Marvin escorting a 6 feet (1.8 m) Lender’s Bagel, "Len", down the aisle to meet his new bride, “Phyl”, a Kraft Philadelphia brand cream cheese
Cream cheese
Cream cheese is a soft, mild-tasting, white cheese with a high fat content. Traditionally, it is made from unskimmed milk enriched with additional cream....
. In 1987, Lender's had three plants in West Haven
West Haven, Connecticut
West Haven is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 52,721.-History:...
, a plant in New Haven, one in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, and one in Mattoon, Illinois
Mattoon, Illinois
Mattoon is a city in Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 18,555 as of the 2010 census. It is a principal city of the Charleston–Mattoon Micropolitan Statistical Area.Mattoon was the site of the "Mad Gasser" attacks of the 1940s....
, the latter is the site of the annual “Bagelfest”. Kraft, who reportedly spent $12 to $15 million annually to advertise Lender's bagels, sold the company to Kellogg's in 1996 for $455 million. Analysts criticized Kellogg's investment in a frozen product at a time when the popularity of fresh bagels was rising. Kellogs introduced a $20 million television campaign for Lender's in Fall 1997. In October 1999, Kellogs sold the business to San Francisco based Aurora Foods for $275 million, and ceased production at the New Haven factory in March 2000. In 2003, Aurora was bought by Pinnacle Foods
Pinnacle Foods
Pinnacle Foods Group LLC is a leading packaged foods company headquartered in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, owned by The Blackstone Group. Pinnacle Foods is a key player in the shelf stable and frozen food categories and their products can be found in more than 85% of American households.The company...
, a company of the Blackstone Group
Blackstone Group
The Blackstone Group L.P. is an American-based alternative asset management and financial services company that specializes in private equity, real estate, and credit and marketable alternative investment strategies, as well as financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions ,...
since 2007. The Lender's Bagels brand is still in production with a wide variety of bagels.
Marketing
Murray Lender's advertisements and marketing promotions put bagels into the public consciousness. He was traveling throughout the United States marketing Lender's Frozen Bagels to a country which was disdainful of frozen foodFrozen food
Freezing food preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farmers, fishermen, and trappers have preserved their game and produce in unheated buildings during the winter season. Freezing food slows down decomposition by turning water to ice, making it...
s and unfamiliar with bagels. His success helped elevate the entire frozen food industry. In response to observations that March was the slowest month for sales of frozen foods, Murray Lender organized the frozen food industry to declare March Frozen Foods Month, raising sales dramatically. In recognition of his contributions to the industry as a whole, he was elected chairman of the National Frozen Food Association, nominated to the Halls of Fame of the International Deli-Bakery Association and the Frozen Food Association, and named "Man of the Year" by the Frozen Food Association of New England, the National Prepared Frozen Food Association, and the Connecticut Food Stores Association. In response to the public's growing consciousness of health foods and the drop in popularity of white bread
White bread
White bread is made from wheat flour from which the bran and the germ have been removed through a process known as milling. Milling gives white flour a longer shelf life by removing the bran which contains oil, allowing products made with it, like white bread, the ability to survive storage and...
, he began to stress bagels as more natural baked goods, and Lender's Bagels became one of the first products to voluntarily include nutritional information on the package.
Murray Lender appeared as a guest on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
. He created green bagels for Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day is a religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick , the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of :Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion , the Eastern...
, oval bagels for President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
to be photographed eating in the Oval Office
Oval Office
The Oval Office, located in the West Wing of the White House, is the official office of the President of the United States.The room features three large south-facing windows behind the president's desk, and a fireplace at the north end...
, and "bagel heads", miniature decorated bagels, in the likeness of the world leaders attending the 9th G7 summit
9th G7 Summit
The 9th G7 Summit was held at Williamsburg, Virginia, United States during the 28th to 30th of May 1983. The venue for the summit meetings was Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia....
in 1983.
Further reading
- Balinska, Maria (2008). The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread, Yale University Press, November 2008, ISBN 0-300-11229-7, ISBN 978-0-300-11229-0
- Horowitz, Andy, & Fischer, David S., editor. "Jews In New Haven Volume IX: The Lender Family of New Haven, Connecticut", Greater New Haven Jewish Historical Society (JHS), 2009.