FOOD & DRINK
BROADWAY BAGELS, Unit 18D, Dungarvan Business Park,
Co Waterford. Tel: 058 23843. www.broadwaybagels.ie
Bagel
power
ApplyingtheNewYorkbagel
formulatotheIrishmarketplace,
BroadwayBagelsismakinggood
inroads,bothhereandintheUK,
withitsnewproductrangeand
packaginginnovations
‘The frozen pizza bagels are
going well in the UK and,
last autumn, we started
supplying Whole Foods
London with their
own-branded bagels’
Rosie Sheehan
D
UNGARVAN-based Broadway Bagels has has been in evidence from the outset, when Sheehan Now operating from a 5,000 sq ft factory, Broadway
brought the taste of New York to Irish moved to Dungarvan with her husband in 2000 and Bagels employs 17 people and makes 12 varieties of bagel,
supermarket shelves, cafes and restaurants thought about setting up a business. includingafrozen-pizzavariety,whichitlaunchedlastyear
for the past eight years, and is building on With the first recipe, the Sheehans experimented for inSuperquinnandWholeFoodsLondon.Thepizzabagels
this success with its new ‘Rosie’s Fresh’ range, named months in their kitchen until they were happy with the are available in Pepperoni, Roasted Vegetable, 3 Cheeses,
after co-owner and founder Rosie Sheehan. end result: a New York-tasting bagel made from Irish RedOnion&FetaCheeseandMushroom&Garlicvarieties.
Currently making anywhere between 20,000 and ingredients. “The frozen pizza bagels are going well in the UK and,
25,000 bagels a day, Broadway Bagel’s turnover doubled “It was very primitive at first — we used a cookie cut- last autumn, we started supplying Whole Foods London
in 2008, and Sheehan says she decided to bring out a ter and a shot glass to make a hole in the bagel. We threw with their own-branded bagels. In fact, we’re doing a lot
fresh range following customer requests for same. Up out skips of the stuff before we reached the authentic more private labels in general now, for example for
until now, the company supplied frozen product to taste,” says Sheehan. The couple sourced equipment in Dunnes and Superquinn,” says Sheehan.
avoid adding preservatives or additives. Ireland and started selling their product from a little out- She feels one of the important aspects of Broadway
“We have been toying with the ingredients for a while let in Dungarvan. Bagel’s strategy is to stick to what it knows best. “We’ve
and have come up with a bagel range with a seven-day A year and a half later, they felt the real potential lay in had requests to make scones and soda breads, but I did-
shelf life that is still free from artificial ingredients and wholesale, and sent samples to coffee-shop owners in n’t grow up eating those, so wouldn’t feel confident
can be sold in the bread section,” says Sheehan, who runs Dublinwhotookthemon.And,afterafewweeks,theyhad about making them. A lot of people go to the US and
the business with her husband Des. theirfirstdistributor.Fromthere,BroadwayBagelsmoved develop a taste for what’s over there — this is what we’re
TheRosie’sFreshbagelsaresoldinafour-pack,eachone into supplying frozen pre-sliced packs of branded bagels concentrating on.”
weighing125g,whiletheonesinthefreezercabinetcome to supermarkets. Broadway Bagels has garnered a lot of publicity over
in a five pack of 70g bagels and have a one-year shelf life. “In the beginning, it was a bit difficult to get a listing the past few years, including being featured on the RTÉ
“IndevelopingRosie’sFresh,wewenttoNewYorkwith in the multiples because we were trying to sell a com- TV programme The Mentor and, more recently, The
Bord Bia, looked at all the branded fresh bagels available pletely new concept. However, once people tasted the Mentor Revisited. Dr Jean Bolger, co-host of the pro-
and developed ours along those lines. We also intend to bagels, things took off,” Sheehan recalls. grammes, said this about Des and Rosie: “I was partic-
launchAmericanpretzels,whicharesoldonstreetcorners You can now buy them in Tesco, Superquinn, Super- ularly struck by their sheer grit. The couple came into
andarequitepopularinsupermarketsandkiosksinNew Valu, Spar, Centra, Mace, Londis, Nolans (Clontarf), this business about which they knew literally nothing,
York.Webroughtalotofideasbackwithus—such as the Costcutter, Ardkeen Food Store in Ireland and Whole apartfromtheirloveofbagels.”
vibrancy of the packaging — which we’re now adapting.” FoodsLondon.Onthewholesaleside,BroadwayBagelssells It’s Broadway Bagels’ second year as a finalist in the
This careful attention to detail in product development 48-packstoseveraldistributorstothefoodservicesector. National Small Business Awards.
12 SFA NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS AWARDS WWW.SFA.IE/AWARDS
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