Go To

Bruegger's

Operates chain of bagel bakeries.

Headquarters:
159 Bank St.
Burlington, VT 05401
Employees: 1,000+
President: David Austin
Privately held

Website: http://www.brueggers.com

Career Site

Bruegger’s operates 300 bakeries in 25 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. The chain is known for its variety of authentic kettle boiled bagels that are baked fresh and served hot. Bruegger’s bagels come in 15 different flavors in addition to seasonal offerings. Most Bruegger’s bakeries feature viewing areas where customers can see how the bagels are made.

Bruegger’s offers a variety of breakfast and lunch fare, including sandwiches made on a Softwich – Bruegger’s soft, square bagel, Hearty white or wheat bread, Signature Soups, Green Mountain Coffee blends, hot breakfast sandwiches, freshly made deli sandwiches, tossed-for-you salads, wraps, cookies, and freshly made, exclusive cream cheese in an assortment of flavors.

Almost all restaurants offer free Wi-Fi access.

Bruegger’s produces approximately 70 million bagels each year.

Bruegger's Enterprises is headquartered in Burlington, VT and oversees the franchising of bakeries. In addition, it operates 137 Timothy's World Coffee, mmmuffins and Michel's Bakery Cafés in Canada through a wholly owned subsidiary, Threecaf Brands Canada Inc.

Le Duff America, Inc., the North American subsidiary of Groupe Le Duff SA, acquired Brueggers on March 17, 2011. Bruegger's had been owned by private investment firm Sun Capital Partners, Inc. since 2003. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

With the acquisition of Bruegger's, Groupe Le Duff SA becomes the world's second largest company in the café-bakery sector, with sales of more than $1.53 billion, more than 1,100 restaurants and bakeries, and approximately 13,400 employees.

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! The first store opened in Troy, NY.

From their home base in Burlington, VT, 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 2003, Bruegger's welcomed was acquired by Sun Capital Partners 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.

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.

Updated December 30, 2012