Rumors have been swirling the last couple of weeks about Bagel Works, but The Chronicle got the real story this week from its founder, Steve Ellenberg.
Ellenberg sold Bagel Works but said he will stay on and work for the new owners. He decided to sell the business after his former partner retired due to health problems. The operation of the bakery and deli will not change and will remain kosher under Vaad supervision.
“This was a good thing for me because I can’t do the business alone, so I’m staying on doing all the creating and making sure the quality is there — still controlling the bakery,” he said.
While the ownership is different, everything else is the same, including the staff.
The new partners, who are not Jewish, are Tony Hansen and Robert Pizzini. They will be learning the bakery business from Ellenberg, who said they’re happy with the way Bagel Works is being run and intend to be hands-on partners. The only difference in how the business is run is that they will computerize operations.
“I’m more of the creative end of that group; I’m the one with the culinary background,” Ellenberg said. “So I’ll be developing the products and making sure the quality is up to par on everything we already are doing.”
Ellenberg stressed the main part of the agreement between himself, Hansen and Pizzini was that there would be no changes. He wants to keep his customers happy with the service.
Ellenberg said he had always been customer oriented. If somebody wants something, Bagel Works will specialize and customize for them.
“A lot of bakeries say ‘What we have on our list is what we make’ and that’s it. But we’re more of a custom bakery and that’s where my niche is — creating new and different products. I try to go with the trends, what the market is looking for. I create all kinds of different things,” he explained.
Ellenberg said that he sold only the bakery end of Bagel Works to Hansen and Pizzini but that he would still run his catering business out of Bagel Works. Having three people run the bakery will free Ellenberg up to do more catering.
And because the two entities were kept separate in the agreement, the catering business has a new name — The Ellenberg Experience Catering.
“This ended up working out as a better deal for us,” he told The Chronicle. “I’m expanding my catering business because they’re only controlling the bakery. My wife, Denise, and I are going to be running [the catering], and I’ll be able to spend a little more time promoting it, etc.”
Right now Ellenberg does about 90 percent of the kosher catering in the Kansas City area, but will enjoy the freedom to do even more, he said.
This deal works out great for him, he said. For example, during the week he couldn’t do parties because he was busy running the bakery.
“The catering will flourish now, especially with the new name because everybody knows me,” he said. “So The Ellenberg Experience Catering really puts me in the forefront.”
Ellenberg has been in the catering business for 35 years and said he hadn’t had a bad party. He just catered the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education’s Silver Anniversary Celebration: A Night with Henry Winkler at Starlight Theatre, with 550 people present. It was all kosher.
“It was probably the best response; everybody was calling me,” he said. “It was like a really premier party and we didn’t miss a beat on anything. It was spectacular. People were asking me how I cooked the short ribs.”
Ellenberg said he was fortunate to have found two people who were very “pro-Bagel Works” — the way it’s run, the products it makes. “They’re very gung-ho they want it to be this way. So I have good faith in everything going great.
“When people hear that I’ve sold the business, they think I’m gone, but I’m still here, I’m still healthy, I’m still doing everything that’s expected of me,” he said.