Brandwein 's百吉饼提供正宗的纽约风味
MBA graduate Alex Brandwein turned his love of New York-style bagels into a local business.
盛大开幕 Brandwein的百吉饼 in 2020 was a great triumph from the outside but teetered on disaster for founder Alex Brandwein by day’s end. That’s when the shop’s walk-in cooler stopped working.
Before hitting “send” on an email to customers letting them know the shop wouldn’t open the next morning, he tried one more idea: cracking open the freezer and shifting product around so that the cooler could be at the perfect temperature. 它工作.
“You may feel backed into a corner by a problem or think something won’t work,” Brandwein said. “But I’ve found again and again that you can figure out anything. 总有解决办法的.”
几年前, Brandwein had used the same problem-solving skills as a budding entrepreneur and MBA student at UNC-Chapel Hill’s 凯南-弗拉格勒商学院. 这位纽约人, who spent the first seven years of his career in investment banking and private equity, 注意到这个大学城有百吉饼, 但不是 真正的 纽约风格的百吉饼.
Was he the only one looking for authentic bagels or was there a greater demand? Brandwein returned home that summer to test out his idea. He traded his tie for an apron and spent the season sweating in the kitchen of a New York bagel store.
“I needed to know what it was like to turn the corner and yell out, ‘Hot sesame!’ I wanted to learn how the operations worked and if I actually liked waking up at 4 o’clock in the morning and staring at a 500-degree oven for eight hours a day,他说.
他完善了他的食谱, using the classic five ingredients of New York bagels (flour, 水, 盐, yeast and barley malt syrup) and a boil-then-bake method that creates a crisp outer shell to protect the airy interior. “如果我不能把这些百吉饼给我妈妈, 是皇后区土生土长的纽约人吗, 这是行不通的,他说.
Alex Brandwein （Innovate Carolina）
Brandwein selects ingredients with the thoughtfulness and detailed discernment of an artisan fully committed to the craft. 他从当地采购有机面粉 林德利米尔斯, a 10th-generation specialty flour mill and manufacturing business led in part by fellow Kenan-Flager MBA alumna Caroline Lindley. And while many bagel shops cut corners using brown sugar, Brandwein said he only uses barley malt syrup shipped from a New Jersey distributor — the “kicker ingredient that gives the nutty flavor you really look for.”
这种对细节的关注得到了回报. During breakfast and lunch, Brandwein的百吉饼 bustles. It’s a downtown destination for droves of Carolina students, Chapel Hill locals and professionals. 开业几个月后, Brandwein added a full-scale catering service to keep up with growing customer demand.
“At first, people were asking for just a dozen bagels and some coffee,” said Brandwein. “And then it was, ‘Can we get a smoked salmon platter?’然后又说，‘我们能来一份水果拼盘吗?’ and ‘Can we also get boxes of bagel sandwiches and a cookie?’ So the catering department took on a life of its own, which led to the expansion of the company.”
Brandwein makes bagels but also wants to make a difference in the community. “Our company’s mission is to make people’s days a little bit better with good food done well,他说. “We’re not launching rockets into space or curing diseases, but a good bagel shop is one thing you can hopefully count on. We want to make everyone feel welcome, with a smile and a great bagel that hits the spot.”
