Einstein Bros. Bagels is an American chain that specializes in

bagels A bagel ( yi, בײגל, translit=beygl; pl, bajgiel; also spelled beigel) is a bread roll originating in the Jewish communities of Poland. It is traditionally shaped by hand into a roughly hand-sized ring from yeasted wheat dough that is fir ...

and

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

. In 1996, Berkeley-based Noah's Bagels was bought out by Einstein Bros.

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

-based New World Coffee, which bought out Manhattan Bagel in 1998, bought out Einstein Bros. in 2000 post-bankruptcy. In the 1990s, Einstein Bros. had bought out retail bagel chains from regions around the US without bagel traditions: Offerdahl's Bagel Gourmet, Bagel & Bagel, Baltimore Bagel, and Brackman Brothers.

History

Einstein Bros. was created by the chain restaurant corporation Boston Chicken (now

Boston Market Boston Market Corporation, known as Boston Chicken until 1995, is an American fast casual restaurant chain headquartered in Golden, Colorado. It is owned by the Rohan Group. Boston Market has its greatest presence in the Northeastern and Midwes ...

) 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. Boston Chicken, Inc. originally formed the Einstein and Noah Bagel Corporation as Progressive Bagel Concepts, Incorporated (PBCI) in March 1995, when it purchased four 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), Baltimore Bagel (San Diego), 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 wealthy neighborhoods where the customers had relatively little previous exposure to bagels. Noah's Bagels was founded in 1989 by Noah Alper on College Avenue in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

. In 1996, the chain of 38 stores was sold to Einstein Bros. for $100 million. New World Coffee was founded in the early 1990s by Ramin Kamfar, an investment banker who left his finance career to open a coffee shop. It bought Manhattan Bagel out of bankruptcy in 1998. The combined company purchased Washington, D.C.–based Chesapeake Bagel Bakery in 1999 when that chain had 89 stores, giving Manhattan approximately 350 locations. Noah's Bagel Coffee Cup (15652697676)

In 2000, Einstein Bros. filed for bankruptcy, having loaned too much money to franchisees. After it declared bankruptcy, New World Coffee, which had earlier attempted an unsuccessful

hostile takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to t ...

, bought the company out of bankruptcy for $190 million. In 2014, Einstein Noah Restaurant Group was acquired by

JAB Holding Company JAB Holding Company ("JAB" or Joh. A. Benckiser) is a German conglomerate, headquartered in Luxembourg, that includes investments in companies operating in the areas of consumer goods, forestry, coffee, luxury fashion, animal health, and fast foo ...

and BDT Capital Partners. On August 5, 2021, Einstein Bros. announced that it had merged with

Panera Bread Panera Bread is an American chain store of bakery-café fast casual restaurants with over 2,000 locations, all of which are in the United States and Canada. Its headquarters are in Sunset Hills, Missouri. The company operates as Saint Loui ...

and

Caribou Coffee Caribou Coffee Company is an American coffee company and coffeehouse chain. It was founded in Edina, Minnesota, in 1992. As of May 2015, the company operates 603 locations worldwide. It is headquartered in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Backgroun ...

to form Panera Brands.

References

External links

Official website
{{Fast-food chains of the United States Restaurants in Colorado Bagel companies Bakery cafés Fast-food chains of the United States Companies based in Lakewood, Colorado Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Restaurants established in 1995 1995 establishments in Colorado Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000 2014 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1995

History

See also

References

External links