Those of you who are sensitive to heresy might want to quit reading at this point.

I like Einstein's!

I learned something about a year ago. As a court reporter, I took some depositions for a business lawsuit. What makes it relevant here is that the depositions were taken at the Einstein's bagel factory, in Avon, Indiana (near Indianapolis), where almost all of Einstein's bagels are made for all of the United States. The only area of the US that isn't supplied with Einstein's bagels from Avon, Indiana is California, (and maybe Oregon and Washington; not sure about them).

It seems that a number of years ago Einstein's was about to expand out of the East, and wanted to centralize the operation for standardization, quality control, and efficient distribution. They picked a small neighborhood bagel shop in Indianapolis, and made a proposition, for those people to be the (almost) nationwide supplier.

Einstein's designed and had the factory constructed, and rents the factory and all machinery to the Indiana operating corporation. Einstein's contracts with various suppliers to put together the mixes for bagels, for flavorings, (such as onions, cranberries, blueberries, etc.) to Einstein's specifications, which are shipped to Avon.   The factory machinery adds water, mixes and kneads and forms the dough in bagel shapes. Then conveyor belts convey the formed raw bagels through the hot water bath, and immediately into a special unit which almost instantly freezes the bagels. The frozen raw bagels are then packaged and palleted by machinery.

The pallets of (maybe thirty-pound, I forget) boxes containing frozen raw bagels are shipped to the individual stores, and kept in a freezer. Each day, the following day's intended usage is taken from the store's freezer and allowed to thaw. They are freshly baked in batches through the following day as needed to satisfy the trade.

Oh, how disappointed I was to learn that Izzie and Elmo (or whatever their names are) don't personally make my bagel with their own little hands!

Dave Oesterreich