Einstein Bros.® Bagels
March 13, 2021
It’s 2 A.M. and the lights go on at Einstein Bros. restaurants
as they begin to bake their amazing bagels.
Yep, hot and fresh, every four hours, every single day.
Bagels…
In 1995, Boston Chicken (now Boston Market) created Einstein Bros. as a way to market breakfast foods. The chain, now owned by Einstein and Noah Corp., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc.
In that same year, Boston Chicken, Inc. formed the Einstein and Noah Bagel Corporation as Progressive Bagel Concepts, Incorporated (PBCI) when it purchased four retail bagel chains: Offerdahl’s Bagel Gourmet, Incorporated (Fort Lauderdale), Bagel & Bagel, Incorporated (Kansas City), Baltimore Bagel (San Diego), and Brackman Brothers, Incorporated (Salt Lake City).
Each of the stores was located in a rich neighbourhood where the customers had had little exposure to bagels. They were in for a real treat!
In 1996, Noah’s Bagels was bought by
Einstein Bros. for $100 million.
Coffee…
Rmain Kamfar, an investment banker, founded New World Coffee in the early 1990s. He left his finance career and opened a coffee shop, buying Manhattan Bagel in 1998.
The combined companies of New World Coffee and Einstein Bros. purchased Chesapeake Bagel Bakery in 1999. At that time, the chain had 89 stores, bringing Manhattan Bagel’s number to about 350 locations.
In 2000, Einstein Bros. having loaned too much money to franchisees, filed for bankruptcy. New World Coffee bought the company out of bankruptcy for $190 million.
In 2014, Einstein Noah Restaurant Group was acquired by JAB Holding Company and BDT Capital Partners.
Gloria Sauvé
Communications and Marketing