Longtime Houston Jewish bagel bakery dishes on its major kosher and name changes

A bakery that’s a staple of Houston’s Jewish community has dropped its kosher certification, but its sister location will continue to be kosher compliant. The Bagel Shop Bakery on Hillcroft will no longer be kosher as of October 1, but the Bellaire location will remain under the supervision of both the Houston Kashruth Association (HKA) and the Mehadrin Kashrus of Texas (MKT).

To emphasize the change, the Hillcroft bakery will be known as New York Deli, which is also the name of its adjacent coffee shop and cafe. Bellaire’s kosher certified bakery will continue to be called the Bagel Shop Bakery.

Partners Michael Saghian and Riana Sherman tell CultureMap that they worked with both MKT and HKA before making the decision to drop the kosher certification at the Hillcroft location but maintain it in Bellaire. The recipes will remain the same at both locations, but the baking at the Hillcroft location will no longer be performed under the supervision of kosher authorities, which is a requirement for those who observe Jewish dietary laws.

Previously, the Hillcroft location had been both kosher certified and open on Saturdays, but that changed when co-founder Ed Gavrila retired last year. Without someone who isn’t Jewish as an owner, the kosher authorities required the bakery to close on Saturdays for the Jewish Sabbath as well as all Jewish holidays. That caused a downturn in business that needed to be rectified.

“This decision is purely a business decision,” Sherman says. “Being closed on a Saturday and for all the Jewish holidays, it really has hurt us this past year.”

Similarly, keeping the Hillcroft bagel shop open on Saturdays should boost business at the cafe next door, which has never been kosher-certified — as anyone who’s ordered a side of bacon with their breakfast knows well. Still, the bakery and the deli have a symbiotic relationship that was disrupted by the bakery being closed.

“What I learned was the bakeries tie into the restaurants,” Saghian says. “We’re a bagel shop over everything. The bagel differentiates who we are as a restaurant. If you remove the bagel, the restaurant will be slow.”

Keeping the Bellaire location of the Bagel Shop Bakery as kosher certified also made sense from a business standpoint. First, that’s where the company’s wholesale operations are based, which allows it to supply kosher-certified bagels and other baked goods to synagogues, schools, and other Jewish facilities. Second, since it was designed from the beginning to be a kosher bakery and cafe, it also has a larger menu of sandwiches, breads, and pastries to serve the kosher community.

“When we built the Bagel Shop Bakery in Bellaire, we knew we wanted to be held to HKA/MKT standards, learn from their leaders and have them guide us to be the best we could be for the community,” Saghian added in a statement. “The Bagel Shop Bakery and HKA are working together in creating new and exciting additions to the Bellaire location. Through new menu items, potential dinner pop-ups, new catering menus, etc., we are building upon what has worked in the past and creating a better future.”

The New York Eatery, the Bellaire bakery’s companion, non-kosher restaurant, will remain open daily as it has since it opened last year. It serves a broader menu of breakfast, lunch, and dinner items than the Hillcroft deli location.

“At the end of the day, people expect a fresh bagel,” Saghian says. “That’s what Ed and Jay have always preached. You make a bagel today. You eat a bagel today.