One of the country's largest and oldest manufacturers of bagels and bialys is located in Brooklyn. But not for long. The nearly 70-year-old business is rolling out of the borough. Brooklyn reporter Jeanine Ramirez has the story.
The bialy originated in Bialystock, Poland. But the Bell family's bialys have their roots in Brooklyn. Marty and Dotty Bell began their bialy business in 1947 in Borough Par.
"We go back to 13th Avenue where my dad used to work in the basement with the old long ovens and a peel board that was about 10 feet long making bialys," says Warren Bell, president of B&S Bialys and Bagels by Bell.
When Warren Bell took over from his father, he moved the business to Canarsie and expanded to frozen packaging and shipping.
They make 24,000 bialys a day now. There's also a bagel line - but the bialy is their specialty. Bagels can be made with machines; bialys can only be made by hand. And that's where they see the company's future.
"The plan is to make Bell Bialy a household name," said Jared Bell, vice president of the company. "That's really what it is. I want everyone to know when they see a bialy that it is ours, nobody else's."
Jared Bell plans to take over from his father and says to grow, the company needs more space.
So Bell's Bagels and Bialys will be moving out of Brooklyn to Oceanside, Long Island — and a plant that can double their daily bialy production.
"I don't want to have the same issue my father had where he gets too big for the space and has to move," Jared Bell said. "I want to be able to grow into that and set up our future there."
Bells Bialys could stay in Brooklyn, but they say that would cost, well, too much dough. Real estate prices are just too expensive in the city.
So now, they will follow other iconic bagel and bialy makers that have closed up shop in the city — like H & H bagels in Manhattan.
Although Bell's Bialys and Bagels will be produced some 20 miles away, the products will still carry the Brooklyn name and logo. The Bell family still plans on living in Bergen Beach. And they say they've offered to transfer all of their 41 employees to the new plant on Long Island while creating about 30 new jobs.