H&H Bagels opened up the opportunity for franchising last fall.
Whether it’s Kramer returning to his apparent job after a 12-year strike on “Seinfeld,” Carrie bringing Miranda a few bagels as an apology in “Sex and the City” or Dwight offering his coworkers bagels on “The Office,” H&H Bagels has had its fair share of TV and movie features over the years, helping establish the brand in its home of New York City.
The iconic brand has also been featured in “How I Met Your Mother,” “You’ve Got Mail” and “Entourage,” to name a few.
“We just got a lot of media attention over the years,” Jay Rushin, H&H’s CEO, said. “And obviously we had a great product, and then all that media attention and pop culture just elevated the brand.”
After 50 years, H&H opened up opportunities for franchising last fall. The brand is in the process of signing agreements to open stores near New York. Its five existing locations are in New York City, a couple of which are in airports. The brand also offers nationwide shipping.
H&H is looking to expand in the country’s top 50 markets, but the bagels will still be made in New York and finished off in each store, Rushin said. “We will literally be the only authentic New York City bagel in every market we enter,” he continued. “So everyone else has to do the ‘New York style,’ which is clearly not the same.”
The brand recently launched what it calls “H&H 3.0,” an assembly-line format, at its Upper West Side location. There, guests pick a bagel and any toppings/sandwich inclusions they’d like, similar to ordering at Subway or Chipotle.
“From our operational standpoint, the team member never has to turn their back on the customer, and it makes it a friendlier, happier environment and less mistakes for the customers,” Rushin said. “It’s quicker to get people in and out … so it’s a win-win for everybody.”
H&H will use that format in its new franchise stores.
H&H serves a variety of bagel flavors, with classics such as sesame and cinnamon raisin, and unique flavors including Bialy and pumpernickel everything. Since Rushin took over the brand in 2014, H&H reduced its overall menu by about half because, as he said, “People really don’t want to walk in and have to look through seven pages of items to figure out what they want.”
Item 19 of its franchise disclosure document shows H&H’s Upper East Side location brought in $3.39 million in gross sales last year. The cost of goods ran 33.2 percent and labor costs were 26.1 percent. Its Upper West Side location grossed $1.73 million, with COGS at 29.6 percent and labor at 25.8 percent.
The cost to open an H&H Bagels ranges from $474,500 to $865,000.