Bruegger's
| File:Logo2edit.JPG | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Founded | 1983 in Troy, New York |
| Headquarters | Burlington, Vermont, United States |
Key people | Nordahl Brue, Founder Mike Dressell, Founder James Greco, CEO Dave Austin, President |
| Products | Fast casual/Bakery-Cafe, including several varieties of bagels and muffins, cold sandwiches, salads, and soups |
| Revenue |  $153.2 million USD (2004) |
Number of employees | 1,353 full time |
| Website | www.brueggers.com |
Bruegger's Corporation, commonly known as Bruegger's, is a franchiser and operator of bakery-cafes. Their retail outlets serve bagels, coffee, and a variety of other related items. The chain is the second largest of its kind in the nation.
Bruegger's was founded in 1983 by Nordahl Brue and Mike Dressell, with the first store opening in Troy, New York. Prior to the founding of Bruegger's, bagels were widely considered an ethnic food and not much known outside of New York City. Fewer than 1/3 of Americans had ever tasted a bagel. [1]
Today, 250 Bruegger's operate in seventeen U.S. states and bagels are a common food throughout the country. The company is headquartered in Burlington, Vermont and James Greco serves as CEO.
Bruegger's holds the Guiness World Record for the Biggest Bagel, weighing over 850 pounds. It was cooked at the New York State Fair and given to those who donated to a local charity.
About Bruegger’s
- Founded in 1983, Bruegger’s is headquartered in Burlington, Vermont.
- Bruegger’s has 245 neighborhood bakeries in 17 states, 133 company owned
and 112 franchised.
- Bruegger’s Enterprises, Inc., through subsidiaries and affiliates, is a
franchiser and operator of Bruegger’s
Products
Bruegger’s offers fresh hot bagels, unique coffee blends, specialty sandwiches, fresh-made salads, carb-friendly wraps, stone hearth breads, deli style sandwiches, soups, desserts and original cream cheese in an assortment of flavors.
Bruegger’s most famous and best selling product is its variety of authentic New York-style, water boiled bagels that are baked fresh and served hot. Bruegger’s bagels come in a variety of 17 different flavors in addition to seasonal offerings. Many Bruegger’s bakeries feature viewing areas where customers can see how the bagels are made.
Corporate History
When Nord Brue and Mike Dressell started Bruegger's in 1983, they actually founded the retail bagel concept. Up until that point, bagels were considered mostly an ethnic food and were not known much outside of New York. At that time, less than one-third of Americans had ever tasted a bagel.
From their home base in Burlington, Vermont, Brue and Dressell pioneered a new concept that expanded the traditional bagel bakery into a quick service bakery with premium specialty cream cheeses, custom-made sandwiches, signature soups and exceptional coffee. They worked with a professional bagel baker from New York City for 2 1/2 years to perfect their recipe and baking process.
In 2004, Bruegger's welcomed new ownership and expanded beyond bagels into breads, wraps and other lunchtime menu items, and began updating bakeries to reflect the welcoming feel of a New England farmhouse-inspired bakery-café that Bruegger's has evolved into.
Today, more than 20 years after the first Bruegger's opened in Troy, New York, there are approximately 250 Bruegger's throughout the U.S., with more on the way.
Trivia
- It took 2 ½ years for Bruegger’s to perfect the recipe and baking process of its bagel.
- Over the course of a year, Bruegger’s produces approximately 70 million bagels, enough to make a stack higher than the Empire State building and have plenty left over.
- Bruegger’s created the World’s Largest Bagel on August 27, 2004. The oversized bagel weighed in at 868 pounds and required 1,100 pounds of dough, 900 gallons of water and a bake time of 10 hours.
- The World’s Largest Bagel did not go to waste. It was sliced and served to
onlookers, who were encouraged to make a donation that would benefit local area food banks.
- In a year’s time, all the Bruegger’s bakeries will use more than 700,000 pounds of coffee. That’s equivalent to 19,600,000 cups of coffee sold each year.
- Bruegger’s uses about ½ million pounds of roast turkey in a single year.
- Bruegger’s sells more than 4 million pounds of flavored cream cheese in a single year.
- Each year, the corporate employees get in on the “neighborhood” fun. Last year, a group of hearty corporate souls jumped into Lake Champlain in February as part of the annual “Penguin Plunge” to benefit the Special Olympics in Vermont, one of the many community events Bruegger’s supports.
- The Bruegger’s name comes from the company’s co-founder Nord Brue. His wife Suzanne thought “Bruegger’s” was a catchy name.
- Bruegger’s ranked in the 2002 Franchise Times “Franchise 200 Report”, the annual ranking of the top franchisers in the U.S.