{"id":21544,"date":"2025-11-17T17:51:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T13:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/?p=21544"},"modified":"2025-11-17T17:51:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T13:51:30","slug":"new-york-bagelfest-2025-crowns-this-years-best-in-bagels-at-a-sold-out-weekend-of-global-competition-and-community-at-citi-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/2025\/11\/17\/new-york-bagelfest-2025-crowns-this-years-best-in-bagels-at-a-sold-out-weekend-of-global-competition-and-community-at-citi-field\/","title":{"rendered":"New York BagelFest 2025 Crowns This Year\u2019s Best in Bagels at a Sold-Out Weekend of Global Competition and Community at Citi Field"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0New York BagelFest 2025<\/a>, presented by\u00a0King Arthur Baking Company<\/a>, wrapped an extraordinary weekend of celebration, competition, and community-building, solidifying its status as the epicenter of modern bagel culture. More than\u00a02,000\u00a0attendees, world-class bagel makers, dozens of leading food brands, and media from across the globe convened for a full lineup of programming on November 16th, during Sunday\u2019s\u00a0sold-out\u00a0festival at Citi Field.<\/p>\n

Competitors traveled from as far as Madrid, Honolulu, Montreal, Dallas, Seattle, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Chicago, joining local legends across New York City to compete for the industry\u2019s highest honors. This global participation underscored New York BagelFest\u2019s ongoing evolution into an international culinary landmark. BagelFest has emerged as a launchpad for rising talent, with past winners seeing explosive growth: Connecticut\u2019s PopUp Bagels leveraged its two-time wins into plans for 300 locations, while Starship Bagel (Dallas), a past Best Bagel and Schmear of the Year winner, made history as the first bagel shop to become a James Beard Award finalist. This year\u2019s competitors arrived keenly aware that a BagelFest victory can change the trajectory of a business overnight.<\/p>\n

\u201cBagelFest feels like a party, but for the makers, it\u2019s a high-stakes moment. Winning an award can propel a small regional shop into the national culinary conversation.\u00a0Our 25 exhibitors were hand selected because they are leading the bagel boom in their cities, and when they go head to head, the creativity and craftsmanship reach levels most people never imagined possible for a bagel.\u201d said BagelFest founder Sam Silverman.\u00a0\u201cThe pure elation the award winners feel is unmistakable.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Heineken Diamond Lounge at\u00a0Citi Field<\/a>\u00a0transformed into a lively culinary playground as guests enjoyed unlimited tastings from bakeries representing the best of today\u2019s bagel landscape. Local icons such as Utopia Bagels, Ess-a-Bagel, and Town Bagel shared the spotlight with innovators like Tilly Bagel Shop (Chicago), Flour Moon Bagels (New Orleans), Si Si Bagels (Madrid), and Tali\u2019s Bagels (Honolulu). The inclusion of Modern Bread & Bagel, one of the world\u2019s leading gluten-free bakeries, made the festival more inclusive than ever. Beyond bagels, leading national brands elevated the tasting experience with accompaniments from Acme Smoked Fish, Mike\u2019s Hot Honey, Brooklyn Seltzer Museum, and favorites like Peter Pan Donut, a curated lineup showcasing the diversity and creativity of today\u2019s culinary culture.<\/p>\n

Attendees cast votes using BagelFest\u2019s signature token system while expert \u201cBreadhead\u201d judges conducted blind tastings to determine the year\u2019s most prestigious awards. Additional juried categories, including Schmear of the Year, Most Creative, Best Showmanship, and Best Bialy, were evaluated onsite by an expanded panel of expert judges comprising leading chefs, authors, food journalists, bakers, creators, and culinary historians. The World Bagel Rolling Championship once again packed the main stage, with crowds cheering as competitors attempted to set a new record for the most uniform bagels rolled in one minute, a BagelFest tradition beloved by families and industry pros alike.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s festival offered its most robust family programming to date, including a full Kids\u2019 Section featuring all-day bagel-themed craft stations led by Miss Pop Nails and multilingual storytelling sessions by author Arianna Brooks, whose reading of \u201cMy Mushy Matzah Ball\u201d was an audience favorite. Families enjoyed discounted youth tickets, and All-Access attendees received exclusive perks such as limited-edition BagelFest shirts and behind-the-scenes Citi Field tours.<\/p>\n

It also included BagelFest Industry Talks series, a dynamic four-panel program designed to support the growth, innovation, and professional development of the global bagel community. Throughout the day, some of the most respected voices in baking, hospitality, and food entrepreneurship took the stage to share insights on craft, culture, and business. The first session, \u201cThe Key to the Perfect Bagel,<\/em>\u201d moderated by Chrissy Traore of See and Be Kitchen, brought together Joe Savelli of Malt Products Corporation and Jeff Yankellow of King Arthur Baking Company for a deep dive into technique and ingredients. Journalist Andrea Strong, founder of The Strong Buzz,<\/em>\u00a0led the second panel, \u201cA Warm (Bagel) Welcome,<\/em>\u201d featuring Tompkins Square Bagels\u2019 Chris Pugliese and Brooks Tanner of Fearless Restaurant Group in a discussion on hospitality, guest experience, and cultivating community through food. In the afternoon,\u00a0<\/em>\u201cFrom Toasted to Thriving,<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<\/em>moderated by Karen Bornarth of The Bread Bakers Guild of America, highlighted the entrepreneurial journeys of Ben Suh of Between the Bagel, Joshua Pollack of Rosenberg\u2019s, and Bridget Odachowski of Holey City Bagels, offering practical perspectives on scaling with integrity. The final session, \u201cHow to Scale Your Bagel Business,<\/em>\u201d moderated by Craig Hutchinson of Olmo Bagels, featured Ethan Marks of Apollo Bagels and Matt Kliegman of Black Seed Bagels in a candid conversation on growth, brand-building, and operational strategy. The Industry Talks series was widely praised as an invaluable addition to the festival, reinforcing BagelFest\u2019s role as both a cultural celebration and a vital professional hub for the future of bagel-making.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0New York BagelFest 2025, presented by\u00a0King Arthur Baking Company, wrapped an extraordinary weekend of celebration, competition, and community-building, solidifying its status as the epicenter of modern bagel culture. More than\u00a02,000\u00a0attendees, world-class bagel makers, dozens of leading food brands, and media from across the globe convened for a full lineup of programming on November 16th, during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21544"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21548,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21544\/revisions\/21548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}