Queen of the Bagel Business

Beth George, a former child-advocate lawyer, entered the bagel business in 2005 while trying to make a gut-friendly bagel for her son, who missed eating them. Her company, Spelt Right, landed national retail customers, and equipment supplier Frank Mauro taught her the craft and introduced her to bagel-shop owners. After years of refining her methods, she opened Bagel-ish in Beacon, New York, in 2024, combining a shop with a training base. She has since advised nearly 100 businesses worldwide, helping owners develop recipes, build kitchens, train staff, and solve operational problems. Her 15-month consulting program includes boot camps, follow-up training, protected recipes, budgets, kitchen plans, and ongoing emergency support. Clients pay a five-figure fee, plus 2% if they sell within ten years; George rejects franchising and encourages owners to adapt her recipes.

Her work rests on the conviction that excellent bagels demand patience and precision despite their simple ingredients. Dough is carefully handled, cold-fermented, portioned, boiled, and baked; rushing can ruin a batch. George’s coaching extends beyond baking to kitchen workflow and business decisions, as shown when she advised a struggling client to repair a costly oven rather than replace it. Her rise coincides with a bagel boom fueled by pandemic baking, migration from cities, renewed enthusiasm for carbs, and demand for distinctive local shops. Bagels have long varied by region, while mechanization made mass production possible in the 1960s. George’s approach offers entrepreneurs a way to enter a competitive market without becoming franchisees, while preserving the craft and building businesses suited to their own communities.