Lender's Created The First Frozen Bagels To Help Out Its Own Employees

There are a few food debates that will never end. One of those debates is about bagels. New York has claimed to craft the best bagels, and indeed, New York bagels are certainly among the best. Still, this circular breakfast bread wasn't actually invented in the state. According to The Atlantic, the history of bagels stretches back centuries, but the modern bagel appears to have been first created by Ashkenazi Jews in Poland. As Jewish people emigrated, they brought bagels with them. With a strong Jewish population, the Northeastern United States has never had a shortage of delectable bagels to enjoy.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Bagel shops and bakeries popped up all over New York and Connecticut. Harry Lender was one of those small business owners. According to Gothamist, Lender opened his own bakery in New Haven after he purchased the business for $600. It started as a small shop, but Lender's name would eventually become synonymous with frozen bagels. It happened sort of by accident.

Frozen bagels weren't even a consideration until New Haven baker Harry Lender looked for a way to ease his staff's workload. According to Gothamist, Lender found that he could freeze bagels throughout the week and deliver them as needed without sacrificing quality and freshness.

This process allowed his staff to work more traditional hours. Getting ahead earlier in the week also ensured there was no weekend rush. Instead of working tirelessly in the early morning and late evening to accommodate weekend bagel demand, the bakery staff just needed to defrost them and deliver them.

Lender planned to keep the new process secret, but a worker accidentally delivered a bag of frozen bagels to a customer. The world of bagels has changed a lot since Harry Lender's time. New bagel flavors have emerged, and mass production has brought bagels to the masses. Harry Lender's son played a significant role in that process.

Lender's bagels didn't become synonymous with frozen bagels until the late 1960s, when Harry Lender's son Murray believed the future of Lender's Bagels was in mass production. According to the Washington Post, the younger Lender figured out how to craft a bagel that was both easy to freeze and transport and palatable to those unfamiliar with bagels. The publication concedes that the Lender's Bagels of today are nothing like the bagels Harry Lender would have made in his New Haven bakery, but they have a place nonetheless.