New York’s Legendary H&H Bagels Helps Ease The COVID-19 Bagel Gap

Long-time New Yorkers and visitors to the city remember when H&H Bagels was the biggest bagel name in the city. For foodies, a visit to one of its shops was as much a pilgrimage as visiting Zabar’s on the Upper West Side.

H&H was a plotline in an episode of Seinfeld, and there was even a scene in the 1998 Nora Ephron film You’ve Got Mail showing flour being delivered to its main shop overnight.

The original H&H went out of business in 2012, but the company has since been revived, with retail locations on the east and west sides of Manhattan, as well as LaGuardia and JFK Airports.

Three years ago, H&H decided to launch a national wholesale business, selling six packs of its bagels that are offered fresh or in frozen food sections.

In 2019, it decided to ramp up that effort, says H&H CEO Jay Rushin. “We have been gaining a lot of momentum in the last 12 months,” Rushin says via email.

The move has helped ease a national bagel gap, although Rushin had no way of knowing that at the time.

In the COVID-19 era, bagels have been among the unexpected casualties.

Stay home restrictions have prompted bagel places in many states to close, at least temporarily, while others have required customers to place orders in advance.

A number of bakeries have cut out or cut back on bagel production to focus on bread and other products in greater demand.

Enter H&H. The impact on its wholesale increase has been swift. Before COVID-19, about 25 percent of H&H’s business was from wholesale customers. Now, it’s up to 35 percent in about two months, Rushin says.

“The overnight change in our business in mid-March has been incredibly challenging,” Rushin says, “but we have a great team and we’ve been able to make many adjustments in a very short period of time.”

The move has helped keep most of his workforce on board. Before COVID-19, the company had 48 workers; about 38, or around 80 percent, are now working, he estimates.  

Rushin says H&H is using several national distributors to aim its products at popular local supermarkets and specialty stores.

Its biggest customers include Amazon Fresh, Central Market stores in Texas, and Oberweis, the dairy stores in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic that offer home grocery delivery.

In the Detroit area, H&H products can be found at Busch’s Fresh Food Market and Plum Market stores, and they’re also stocked at smaller groceries such as The Produce Station in Ann Arbor.

Rushin has another big national outlet: Goldbelly, the upscale gourmet mail order website that offers items from a variety of high-end restaurants and food purveyors.

People who remember when an H&H bagel cost 75 cents on the Upper West Side might blanch at the premium for having them shipped in.

A dozen H&H bagels on Goldbelly cost $49, while two dozen cost $69. Customers can also purchase packages with bagels smoked salmon and cream cheese, starting at $49.

The grocery packs, by comparison, are more reasonable: six H&H bagels cost $6.99 at the Produce Station, and I’ve seen that same price elsewhere. Flavors available at markets usually include plain, everything, sesame and cinnamon raisin.

The interest by groceries and Goldbelly helps offset the decline at H&H’s retail stores, Rushin says.

“As you can imagine, we have seen our national grocery/retail/home delivery business and nationwide shipping business pick up during this event, while our local retail and local wholesale businesses are struggling with most restaurants, hotels, and airports closed for now,” Rushin says.