St-Viateur bagels will be sold at grocery stores in Texas

In Montreal, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier travels mostly on the run, his desk in his backpack, on the lookout for fascinating subjects and people. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all walks of life in this urban chronicle.

This week, customers of the 14 branches of the Central Market supermarket in Texas saw the appearance of a new product with strange French-English packaging: St-Viateur bagels.

Visibly excited by the adventure, the three brother owners of the Mile End factory are flying off next week on a representation tour to our American neighbors in Dallas, Austin and Huston.

I went to meet two of them and their father Joe Morena at the factory.

It was hustle and bustle when I arrived… as is often the case here around midday.

A sweaty Hercules emptied his delivery truck, transferring three 20-kilo bags of flour onto his shoulder at a time.

These big bags don’t last long in this den where around 1,000 dozen bagels are hand-rolled a day.

“Excuse me!” must say the delivery man to crowded customers blocking the entrance.

It will be madness here tomorrow during the weekend of the Mile End en fête event, the very first neighborhood fair in Montreal this year (if we don’t count the Comic Strip Festival which is currently taking place on the Plateau ).

“We can’t really organize a special activity for Mile End en fête because it’s too busy here, but we told the organizers that we’re going to give them as many bagels as they want, and they can give some to the visitors as part of their activities,” says Vince Morena.

The bagels sold in Texas this week were cooked in Montreal, then frozen.

“We sent out a first delivery of 1,200 dozen, and we’ll see how it goes… it’s the unknown!” Vince said.

“We have no idea how people in Texas will perceive our bagels or how they will want to eat them… and that’s why we want to go meet them… we’re curious!” says Robert.

“Maybe they’ll eat this with steak or a T-bone!” Joe joked.

Father Morena started working here in 1964 without realizing that his bagels would one day make it all the way to Texas.

“It was a neighborhood industry for the Jewish community, and now it’s international.”

Since 2002, the bakery has had an online sales site where American customers can order. An American distributor, Gold Belly, takes care of these deliveries… mainly to the northeast of the United States.

This is the first time that an American grocery chain has included Montreal bagels in its regular offering.

“We are artisanal producers, we roll by hand, we cook with a wood fire: we could not supply Wal-Mart! But a chain with 14 branches is just the right size,” enthuses Vince.

Mile End en fête, Saturday and Sunday, will be concentrated between rue du Parc and rue Saint-Laurent and between Laurier Ouest and Bernard.

The donated St-Viateur bagels will be distributed on Saturday noon at Lave-Auto Laurier and on Sunday noon in the Ubisoft parking lot.