Broadway Bagels Rise To The Superstore Challenge

The Sunday Times

The transition from artisan producer to supplying big chains takes a lot of planning.

Global brands such as Nestlé and Kellogg's may dominate supermarket shelves, but there's still space for new, innovative food companies to push through - if they know how to go about it.

Waterford based Broadway Bagels succeeded by creating a new food item in the form of sliced, frozen bagels.

The company was set up in 2002 when New Yorker Rosie Sheehan and Des, her Irish husband, spotted a gap in the market for Irish bagels.

Initially they set up a bagel bar in Dungarvan but "it was ahead of its time", according to Rosie. When it failed, the duo began supplying cafes and canteens around the country.

When members of the public started asking where they could buy the bagels, the couple knew they had found a market and set about building a brand.

Today Broadway Bagels operates out of a 5,000sq ft unit, employs eight people and makes 10,000 bagels a day, many sold through Tesco, Superquinn and Centra. Right now the company is gearing up for export to Britain and beyond.

"Before setting up in business, I had been working in an office in Manhattan and my husband was in construction, so we had no idea what to expect when it came to trying to get a supermarket listing," said Sheehan.

"We weren't negotiators. We weren't business people. We simply spotted a gap in the market and had absolute confidence in our product."

Their ignorance did them no harm. "We were also in a position where failure simply wasn't an option," she said. "We put all our money into the business."

The decision to ramp up from speciality producer to supermarket supplier is not to be taken lightly, said John Hickey of Hickey & Associates, which helps food businesses make the transition.

"Just 10 years ago the artisan producer would have evolved from supplying small local stores to multinational retailers through a natural process, their systems and capacity expanding gradually to match," said Hickey.

"That is no longer the case. Now the entrepreneur pretty much has to decide at the point of entry which route he or she is going to go."

It is, however, a good time to be an artisan producer looking for a supermarket listing.

Broadway Bagels Impressive Debut At Food & Drink Exhibition

Waterford News

Broadway Bagels was among the companies acclaimed in the Product of the Show awards at Ireland's new retail, food and drink event, Shop 2006, which took place in the RDS.

The show's coveted 'Product of the Show Awards' recognised the innovation and enterprise inherent in the food and retail industry.

Over 100 products were entered by companies for an award and the judges selected winners across seven categories, covering everything from best food, beverage, meat, confectionery to best retail technology.

Waterford-based company, Broadway Bagels, were highly commended in the Best Irish Food / Beverage Product category.

The company won the prize for 'The Works Bagel' and also launched two new products at the show; the Plain Lunchbox bagels and Cinnamon & Raisin bagels.

The judging panel, chaired by John McGrath of Dawn Farm Foods, included Teresa Brophy, Bord Bia, John O'Brien, Consultant, Miriam Atkins, Irish Food Magazine and Dermot McConnell, Musgrave Food Services.

Shop 2006 is Ireland's only international food and drink event. It hosted over 250 national and international exhibitors showcasing everything from, gluten free meals and exotic meats to organic spices and luxury handmade chocolates and from handmade gourmet pork products and farmhouse cheese to fresh fruit smoothies and vodka and berry liqueurs.

Over 5,000 national buyers attended the event, representing Multiples, Independent Retailers, Symbol Group, Wholesalers, Fore-court & Retail Shops, Convenience Stores, Bakeries, Butchers, Newsagents, Cash n' Carry, Off Licenses and Delis.

All visitors to the show had the opportunity to see the Product of the Show entries and winner's list, including Broadway Bagels of Waterford.

Broadway Bagels From Dungarvan

Business Waterford
By Justine O'Mahony

2006 heralds a bright future for Dungarvan based company, Broadway Bagels, which was set up by Des and Rosie Sheehan in 2001. Des is originally from Raheny and had previously worked in the construction industry in New York while Rosie, a native New Yorker, was an insurance claims processor. "We moved back in 2000 because we wanted to bring up our children here and we noticed a gap in the market for authentic bagels. Nobody was making them here. We reckoned it would be a great business to get into, lots of potential and if we didn't do it, someone else would," explains Rosie.

They spent months trying to perfect the recipe for their bagels. "In New York a bagel recipe is almost sacred. Nobody will tell you what it is. It's a very scientific process and we threw out bins of bagels before we come up with the formula we have now." They set up a bagel shop in a small mews in Dungarvan and subsequently started bringing the bagels around to various cafes and restaurants in Dublin. A year later they closed the bagel shop and decided to concentrate on wholesale. 'Something had to give. We were working flat out; I was pregnant with our third child and the shop just didn't take off. I think we were ahead of ourselves. I don't think Dungarvan was ready for it," maintains Rosie.

The Sheehan's were able to secure a distributorship for their wholesale business and from there the business finally took off. "All of our bagels are frozen, so we had to link up with a frozen foods distributor. The only problem was if you work through a distributor in the food sector you're taking away the brand identity." By summer 2003, the Sheehan's had people ringing them asking them where could they buy their bagels and so they decided to explore selling directly to the retail sector. Nearly three years later and their bagels are now being carried by most of the major supermarket chains throughout the country. "It's been a hard slog. We've had a couple of rough years where I had doubts about the business succeeding but Des never did. I've learnt that a lot of what the business is about is networking."

In 2004 Broadway Bagels moved to new premises on an industrial estate in Dungarvan and now employ seven people. "It started off with just Des, myself and a girl called Lisa Hilton and now there's seven of us. We're hoping to expand the range so there's a possibility of needing more staff," says Rosie. The company has also had interest from two other countries keen to import their bagels. "This is great but at the moment we want to concentrate on Ireland, to make sure the Irish market is being well served." 2006 looks good for Broadway Bagels. They've been nominated and shortlisted for two Business of the Year awards run by the Small Firms Association. "Things are going really well at the moment; we couldn't be happier."

Deli Style Bagels Featured In Food And Wine Magazine

Food And Wine Magazine

Husband and wife team Des and Rosie Sheehan from Dungarvan, County Waterford have launched their Broadway Bagel range which is currently on sale in the freezer departments of Tesco, Superquinn and Spar. Rosie is a native New Yorker and says the new bagel range is driven by the Irish consumer's desire for that real New York bagel experience. Broadway Bagel currently offers a poppy seed version and one that goes by the name of 'The Works made with poppy and sesame seeds, toasted garlic and red onion

Brand Of The Week: Broadway Bagels

Retail Intelligence Newsletter

The Authentic New York Bagel! Baked with loving care in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, by Rosie Sheehan (New York City) and her husband Des, Broadway Bagels are now available and offer value and innovation to the frozen food category in Ireland.

Irish consumers have a fast-growing taste for 'Authentic' Bagels and Broadway Bagels offer 4 pre-sliced Bagels that can be toasted from frozen in two great varieties - Poppy and The Works!

The healthy option with less than 2% Fat, no cholesterol, and no additives, Broadway Bagels are simply delicious and such good value at just €3.49 for 4 large Bagels!

The company recently featured on 'The Mentor' television programme on RTE and are being supported by advertising and a national PR campaign. Also, in the New Year, 50% Extra Free promotions packs will be available.

Broadway Bagels Feature On RTE Television

Business Connections : Vodaphone

Following on from the success of various American and British business-orientated television programmes, a new production arrived on Irish screens earlier this autumn with RTE's 'The Mentor'. Produced by Tyrone Productions, a series of eight self-contained shows, each episode saw business gurus Jay Bourke and Dr Jeanne Bolger guide a different company on their future path to success.

The businesses featured were varied, as were the talents of the two experts who helped. Jay Bourke is joint MD of Sherland Leisure, a successful entrepreneur who invested his own money in a bar and steadily grew the business to include nightclubs, restaurants and more bars around the country. His latest venture is the conversion of the old Bewleys on Grafton Street to something more profitable and contemporary.

Jeanne Bolger is Vice-President of Scientific Licensing with Johnson & Johnson - a very corporate position in a large, multinational conglomerate.

Over the course of each show, we saw the pair study and counsel each of the entrepreneurs who sought expert advice. The challenges were all different and the Mentors introduced participants to specialists who could help with their business issues. "I was impressed by the qualities of determination, commitment and risk-taking displayed by all the companies who participated," comments Jeanne Bolger, in retrospect. "And I was delighted that my background and insights were of potential value to small businesses."

Both Mentors were impressed by the drive exhibited by each of the businesses, and while all were commended, it would be hard not to have favourites. "I was particularly struck by the sheer grit shown by Des and Rosie of Broadway Bagels," says Jeanne. "This couple came into a business about which they knew literally nothing apart from their love of bagels. They had no background in large scale baking, manufacturing, distribution, marketing and I really commend that entrepreneurial spirit."

Both Mentors have learned from the experience themselves. And, just as with life, Jeanne sums it up well by saying "the show reiterated to me that most problems can be tackled with a pragmatic approach, a bit of honesty and an external view." In terms of Irish entrepreneurial spirit, it's safe to say the future's looking bright..

The Mentor was the successful RTE One programme that took Irish businesses across different industries and offered them advice

Broadway Bagels Enterprise Focus

Irish Examiner
By Trish Dromey

Dungarvan based couple Des and Rosie Sheehan have set up the country's first dedicated bagel factory and the product is beginning to catch on in a big way, with high hopes for the companies future.

Bringing authentic New York style bagels to Ireland has become something of a mission for Dungarvan-based couple Des and Rosie Sheehan. They have set up the country's first dedicated bagel factory; built up a wholesale business and have launched a retail product at the IFEX show in Dublin. The bagel is beginning to catch on in a big way, but one of the difficulties for the Broadway Bagels company is that many people here don't know how a bagel should taste or how it should be treated.

"Some people here think it's just a hard round bread roll with a hole in the middle but this is not a Bagel. They should be soft and dense and should be eaten within a short time of being baked - not left for hours in a basket to get hard," explains Rosie, who is a native New Yorker. A Dubliner, who went to the States in the '80s in search of work, Des met and married Rosie in New York in the late '90s. In 2000 the couple decided that Ireland was a better place to bring up their children, so they moved the family to Dungarvan.

Rosie's background was in insurance while Des had run his own construction company. "We hadn't decided what we would do in Ireland but we came up with the idea for a bagel company when we found we couldn't get authentic New York-style bagels here," says Rosie. Neither of them had any experience in the food industry or in running a business but they decided to give it a go.

Those who don't know anything about bagels might assume they are easy to make but, according to Rosie, this is anything but the case. "Making a bagel is a bit like a science. You use a mixture of flour, salt, sugar, yeast and water if you get the quantities of any of these wrong it won't work.

In the US where bagels are taken very seriously - bagel recipes are closely guarded secrets and bakeries who make them don't give them away. So when Rosie and Des set out to create an authentic bagel they had their work cut out for them. "We binned thousands of bagels before we got it right. We got, advice from a Jewish bakery in New York - who gave us advice but wouldn't give us his formula - in the US bagel formulas are considered sacred," says Rosie.

After three months they had produced a bagel they were happy with and set up a bagel bar in Dungarvan. While bagel bars are spreading fast around the country this wasn't the case in 2001 and Dungarvan may not have been quite ready for one. At the end of 2002 when the couple's third. child was on the way - they decided to close this and move into the wholesale business, selling frozen bagels to the food service industry. Rosie packed up some samples and set off to Dublin to show them to coffee shops and restaurants.

It went very well. They got a distributor and the business began to grow. "It was a struggle for a few years and it wasn't till we got a contract to supply a supermarket chain in early 2004 - that I knew it was going to work", said Rosie

"We are the only company in the country making authentic New York-style bagels. They are made with natural ingredients, without additives and preservatives of any kind and are blast frozen within an hour of cooling - so that they are soft like a bagel should be - when defrosted," says Rosie, adding that she has high hopes for the firm's future. Broadway Bagels is based at a 2,500 sq ft factory in the Dungarvan Business Park, where it employs five full-time staff and one part-time one. Although nine flavours of Bagel are being served to the food service industry -Broadway Bagels is testing the retail market with its two most popular ones - Poppy and The Works (poppy, sesame, onion and garlic).

The company's retail packs of frozen pre-sliced bagels will be going nationwide next month in some of the smaller supermarket chain"