With Finagle’s Forfeit, New Bakery Fills Hole

Continuing what’s becoming a cereal tradition, Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) will bounce branded Finagle bagels from the menu this January in favor of those baked by a local provider after the former supplier withdrew from the wholesale market.

“Bagels are a huge thing for us,” said Christa Martin, HUDS assistant director for marketing. “When Finagle informed us in December that they wanted out of the market, we went shopping for a new provider.”

Martin said that HUDS looked for local providers to ensure freshness and also searched for companies that could meet the volume demands of hungry Harvard students.

Bagels are both a breakfast and brain break staple in all 12 houses and Annenberg, and, according to HUDS, undergraduate diners consume about 32,000 dozen bagels over the 39 week school year—about 9,850 bagels per week.

HUDS searched among local companies and found that family-owned East End Bagels in Ipswich could meet Harvard’s high volume demand and stay within the target price range.

“We only performed a limited taste test,” Martin said. “With so many people doing low-carb, there are very few companies in the area doing fresh bagels anymore.”

Students, though, haven’t sworn off a Sunday schmear.

Meghan A. Day ‘05 had applied a generous dollop of cream cheese to a plain East End bagel yesterday morning, when she weighed in on the quality of the new brand.

“These bagels are better to eat raw,” she said. “They’re not as dry and much better for non-toasted consumption.”

However, Gretchen L. Hultz ‘07 was not so pleased with the moister mouthful. “They’re much denser,” she said. “I think the new product is just too much bagel.”

Though Day disagreed, she did have one complaint about the new provider. “I was less impressed with the flavor selection,” she said.

But, according to Martin, HUDS works hard to monitor the flavor preferences and consumption patterns of each house.

“Students are very vocal about what they want,” she said, explaining that house dining managers are very responsive to comment cards and online commentary.

In addition, dining hall staff observe what flavors seem to be the favorites. “At the end of the day, if you still have 25 poppy seed bagels, then you know that’s not a big hit,” Martin said.

Although East End Bagels delivers about 10 different flavors every day to HUDS, some students are less finicky when it comes to variety.

“I like bagels of all shapes and sizes,” said Geoff LeBus ‘06, who eats bagels regularly as part of his football weight-gain regimen and was somewhat indifferent to the provider switch.

“To be honest with you, I kind of thought they tasted the same,” he said.

—Staff writer Wendy D. Widman can be reached at widman@fas.harvard.edu.