H&H Bagels

Coordinates: 40°46′28″N 73°57′16″W / 40.774433°N 73.95448°W / 40.774433; -73.95448

H&H Bagels
Private
Fate Original stores bankrupted; successor store on Upper East Side, under different ownership
Predecessor Midtown Bagels
Successor H&H Midtown Bagels East, 1551 2nd Avenue on the Upper East Side, different owners
Founded 1972 (1972)
Defunct January 2012 (2012-01) (original stores)
Headquarters Manhattan, New York City, United States
Products Bagels

H&H Bagels has been a popular bagel company in Manhattan, in New York City. The original two stores closed, but one with the same name continues.

Before closing in January 2012, the two original stores had been the largest bagel manufacturer in New York City, and one of the largest bagel manufacturers in the world, producing about 80,000 bagels a day.

There is an H&H Midtown Bagels East at 1551 2nd Avenue between East 80th and East 81st streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, with different owners.[1][2] In 1997, it had sales of $2 million.[1][2]

History

View from Broadway

The business was started in 1972 when Puerto Rican Helmer Toro and his brother-in-law Hector Hernandez (hence "H&H") bought Midtown Bagels at Broadway and 80th Street for $5,000 ($28,000 in current dollar terms) in cash and $50,000 ($280,000 in current dollar terms) in a loan. Toro eventually assumed full control of the business.[3]

In 1993 it moved its bakery to 46th Street at 12th Avenue in Hell's Kitchen although its primary storefront remained on the Upper West Side.

In addition to its retail locations, H&H also shipped bagels worldwide. H&H Bagels were Hechsher-certified Kosher and Pareve by Star-K.[4]

On November 18, 2009, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau announced the indictment[5] and arrest of Helmer Toro for stealing withholding taxes and evading unemployment insurance taxes.[6] The indictment alleged that between July 2003 and April 2009, Toro failed to pay $369,000 withheld from H&H employees.[7] In May 2010 he pleaded guilty to grand larceny, and was sentenced to pay restitution of more than $540,000 and to a jail term, which he served over the course of 50 weekends from June 2010 to July 2011.[8]

H&H filed for bankruptcy protection in February 2011 in an effort to maintain its manufacturing facility in Secaucus, New Jersey,[9] but ultimately that facility was sold at auction in October 2011. The West 46th and West 80th retail locations closed in January 2012.[10]

The final days and collapse of the H&H companies was chronicled in The Rise and Fall of H&H Bagels, a business memoir, written by Marc Zirogiannis about his experiences as a top advisor to the owner, Helmer Toro.[11]

Retail locations

Upper East Side (2nd Avenue between East 80th and East 81st))

H&H Midtown Bagels East at 1551 2nd Avenue between East 80th and East 81st streets on the Upper East Side is owned by different owners than the original stores.[1][2] In 1997, it had sales of $2 million.[1][2]

Upper West Side (Columbus Avenue between West 85th and West 86th)

In November 2016, H&H Midtown Bagels East opened a second location on the Upper West Side.

Upper West Side (West 80th St) (Closed)

Opened in 1972, this was the original location of H&H Bagels. It was open to the public 24 hours a day. Bagels were produced at the location at nearly all times of the day and night.[12] It was closed by New York City marshals on June 29, 2011.[9][13]

Hell's Kitchen (West 46th St) (Closed)

The H&H location at 639 West 46th Street also held a manufacturing plant. This location was also open 24 hours a day. The property was sold in December 2011, but the company continued operating until they were evicted in January 2012.[10][14]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "About Us – HH Midtown Bagels East". Hhmidtownbagels.com. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 CHRISTOPHER DREWPublished: March 10, 2000 (March 10, 2000). "Judge Splits Decision In Bagel Dispute". New York Times. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
  3. ↑ CAROL LAWSON (October 10, 1993). "NEW YORKERS & CO.; The Bagel Maven . . . From Puerto Rico". New York Times. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Star-K – June 21, 2011". Star-k.org. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Indictment (N.Y. v. Helmer Toro)". FindLaw. November 18, 2009.
  6. ↑ "News Release". Manhattan DA. November 18, 2009.
  7. ↑ Italiano, Laura (November 18, 2009). "H&H bagel man may hand over lots of dough in tax cheat case". New York Post. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
  8. ↑
  9. 1 2 Rebecca Marx, "H&H Bagels Will Close Its Iconic Upper West Side Store", Village Voice, June 21, 2011.
  10. 1 2 Sumathi Reddy and Pervaiz Shallwani, "Loxed Out: H&H Bagel Evicted From Last Site", The Wall Street Journal, January 27, 2012.
  11. ↑ Zirogiannis, Marc (November 1, 2015). The Rise and Fall of H&H Bagels (First ed.). Litchfield, Illinois: RWG Books & Publishing. p. 154. ISBN 978-0692542835.
  12. ↑ Beller, Thomas (March 29, 2004). "Portrait of The Bagel as a Young Man". Mrbellersneighborhood.com. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
  13. ↑ "The End is Swift for H&H Bagels as Marshals Seize the Store; Now, Reminisce With Us". West Side Rag. June 30, 2011. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
  14. ↑ "DelShah Capital helps settle bankruptcies at two Manhattan properties", The Real Deal, February 21, 2012.

External links

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