Einstein Bros. Bagels
 | |
| Type | Public (NASDAQ: BAGL) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Fast-casual restaurant |
| Founded | Golden, Colorado |
| Headquarters | Lakewood, Colorado |
| Parent | Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc. |
| Website | einsteinbros.com |
Einstein Bros. Bagels is a bagel and coffee chain in the United States. As of 2012, there were 773 restaurants with the Einstein Bros. name.
Einstein Bros. was created by a chain restaurant corporation Boston Chicken (now Boston Market) in 1995, as a way to market breakfast foods. The chain is now owned by Einstein and Noah Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc., previously known as New World Restaurant Group, which also owns Noah's Bagels, Manhattan Bagel, Chesapeake Bagel Bakery, and New World Coffee.
History
Boston Chicken, Inc. originally formed the Einstein and Noah Bagel Corporation as Progressive Bagel Concepts, Incorporated (PBCI) in March 1995, when it purchased three retail bagel chains, all located in regions of the United States that did not have longstanding bagel traditions. These companies included Offerdahl's Bagel Gourmet, Incorporated (Fort Lauderdale), Bagel & Bagel, Incorporated (Kansas City) and Brackman Brothers, Incorporated (Salt Lake City). Each found that their stores were similar in that they offered both original and new bagel flavors in rich neighborhoods where the customers had relatively little previous exposure to bagels. [1] The conglomerate created a national retail chain specializing in bagel-shaped pastries and complementary products. PBCI began as a chain of 24 bagel shops.
Einstein Bros. originated from Boston Chicken (now known as Boston Market). Boston Market was looking for a way to sell breakfast food. Boston Chicken invested approximately $80 million into the company to help it begin. PBCI gathered additional financial resources through a private stock offering, which earned $20 million.
The company quickly expanded the Einstein Bros. Bagels brand by taking over smaller chains and independent bagelries, as well as building their own stores anew. In August 1995 PBCI bought Baltimore Bagel Company, a chain of 13 stores in San Diego, and two stores in Orange County, California. They also bought 9 Bagel Stop stores in Denver, assimilating them to the Einstein Bros. chain.[2]
Einstein Bros. menus now include a large and changing menu of salads and sandwiches. Recent advertising and billboards have prominently featured photos of non-breakfast items to reinforce the point that Einstein Bros. sells more than bagels.
After receiving the necessary financing, PBCI opened its first Einstein Bros. bagel store in Ogden, Utah, in June 1995. The store featured bagels baked fresh all day, and served in a cafe style atmosphere. Bagels and cream cheese were sold in both new and traditional flavors. Replacing human bakers with machines, and using cheaper ingredients (e.g. corn syrup instead of honey), allowed the company to offer bagels at 45 cents apiece, much less than their competition. After experimenting at the Ogden store, PBCI started expanding more and registered Einstein Bros. for trademark status.[2]
On August 17, 1997, EBBI opened its 500th location, and became the largest retail 'bagel' company in the nation, surpassing Bruegger's at 473 stores. As of October 1997 ENBC had 546 bagel stores in 29 states and Washington, D.C., operated under various brand names, primarily Einstein Bros. and Noah's New York Bagels.[2]
Constituent brands
In 1995, Einstein Bros. Bagels was formed out of the consolidation of four smaller chains.
Noah's Bagels was founded by Noah Alper on College Avenue in Berkeley, California. In 1995, the chain of 38 stores was sold to Einstein Bros. for $100 million.[3] As of December 2010, there are approximately 74 locations in California, Oregon, and Washington.
New World Coffee, founded in the early 1990s by Ramin Kamfar, an investment banker who left his finance career to open a coffee shop.[4] It bought Manhattan Bagel out of bankruptcy in 1998.[5] The combined company purchased Washington, D.C.-based Chesapeake Bagel Bakery in 1999 when that chain had 89 stores, giving Manhattan approximately 350 locations.[6] The Manhattan Bagel brand operates 73 locations as of 2010 in 8 states in the Eastern United States.
By 2000, Einstein Bros. was in financial trouble, having loaned too much money to franchisees.[4] After it declared bankruptcy, New World Coffee, which had earlier attempted an unsuccessful hostile takeover, bought the company out of bankruptcy for $190 million.[7]
References
- ↑ Portable, versatile, tasty: Reasons we like our bagels Bakery' s offerings include nontraditional chocolate chip The Dallas Morning News - Wednesday, November 13, 1996 Author: Kendall Morgan, Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 History of Einstein/Noah Bagel Corporation – FundingUniverse
- ↑ Ilana DeBare (2009-12-09). "Bagel firm founder tells what Noah would do". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kelly Pate (2001-07-02). "Former Investment Banker's Coffee Shop Grows into Largest U.S. Bagel Chain.". Denver Post.
- ↑ "New World Coffee buys Manhattan Bagel". United Press International. 1998-07-29.
- ↑ "Homegrown Chesapeake Bagel to Get New Owner". Washington Post. 1999-07-28.
- ↑ Terry Brennan (2001-06-04). "New World wins fight for bagel maker". The Daily Deal.