Who owns bagel bites

They weren't trying to reinvent the wheel. They weren't even trying to reinvent the Hotwheel by making a toy-sized version of the pizza bagel.

Mosher and his sister had already served "three-bite pizza" bagels at events. Rather, the big idea for their small pizza bagels came from a recipe on the back of a bag of Lender's bagels.

For some reason, no existing company had seized on the opportunity to sell bagels as miniature pizzas — not even Lender's, who provided the lucrative muse for this project.

But the time was ripe, thanks in part to the soaring popularity of bite-sized foods in the '80s. Without the benefit of hindsight, their financial risk might seem overly optimistic.

Mosher put it less diplomatically: "We were young and dumb. Here are a few inventors who took their ideas all the way, and in doing so, changed the way we live, work and play in Southwest Florida. Heinz Company and you can find the item, Bagel Bites, in the frozen food aisle at Publix and grocery stores across the nation. Mosher, from Chicago, had a local catering business with his sister.

Garczynski was a high school teacher from New Hampshire who moved to Fort Myers and got into sales. They drew a mock-up of what the packaging would become and poured all their time and energy into making the snack sell. Mosher remembers. But he added it was also that willingness to invest and risk everything that made the Bites a success. They walked into restaurants, bars and hotels and pushed the Bites on chefs and owners.

Soon they were ordering cheese by the truckload. Their scheme worked almost too well; the growth was more than they bargained for. They also spread the word about Bagel Bites at food product conventions. In no time, big-name food production companies like Heinz, Kraft and Sarah Lee had swooped in and were making aggressive offers to buy them out.

The company used the hype surrounding the professional skateboarder's video game franchise and made him the spokesperson of the company.

How could anyone forget those classic commercials with the Birdman hawking Bagel Bites from atop his board? Similar to a political campaign, Bagel Bites ran an ad with a side-by-side photo of a Totino's Pizza Roll and a Bagel Bite, which stated the ingredients of the cheese in the two products. The goal of the ad was to show that Bagel Bites uses real cheese in their product, whereas Totino's Pizza Rolls are filled with an extremely processed and less healthy cheese substitute. That's right.

Bagel Bites have come a long way since the '90s when cheese and pepperoni were the only options. Now, you can buy them in several varieties, including three cheese, buffalo chicken , and breakfast style with bacon, egg, and cheese. Bagel Bites received quite a boost in sales after sponsoring the Winter X Games in After 13 weeks of advertising, the company saw a 26 percent increase in consumption, according to Bagel Bites senior product manager Richard Yoder.

The beginnings of Bagel Bite can be traced back to the invention of the pizza bagel. Surprisingly, there's some controversy around who actually made the first one and when.

Bruce Treitman claims he invented the pizza bagel in or at a location of his family's chain of bakeries, Western Bagel. The California outlets began officially selling pizza bagels in While we may never know who actually made and sold the first pizza bagel, a trend was born.

The brand was an instant success and the Florida pair sold the company a couple of years later. Heinz owner of Ore-Ida, the brand name on the Bagel Bites box bought the company in , putting it in supermarkets everywhere.

The brand has put out a number of new flavors since the s, including a breakfast version with bacon, egg, and cheese. While Bagel Bites are certainly nostalgic, you might be disappointed if you bite into one now.

The bread can have a stale taste and texture, especially when microwaved, and the sauce is a little too thick and salty. There's a disappointing amount of cheese that never quite melts. Luckily, mini pizza bagels are easy to make at home.