They had been sure by belief, loyalty and dough — till a betrayal blew a bagel gap of their $50 million a 12 months enterprise.
A Queens-based empire that peddles 100 million bagels a 12 months is being torn asunder by a succession struggle between the youngsters of founders George Menegatos and Nicholas Evangelinos.
The bond between the households behind New Yorker Wholesale Bagels — as soon as thicker than cream cheese — is now toast after Nicholas’ son Stefanos allegedly minimize George’s children out of the enterprise, denying them their father’s firm shares after his dying, they stated in a $25 million Brooklyn Federal Court docket lawsuit.
Stefanos Evangelinos “was George’s 50/50 associate . . . holding himself out as the purpose particular person for NYWB’s company info, and the particular person George had instructed [his family] to deal with as an ‘older brother,’ ” the household stated in court docket papers.
The bagel boss was “uniquely positioned to be believed — and he exploited that belief.”
George’s sons Spiro, 43, and Steven, 40 — who labored on the Lengthy Island Metropolis enterprise for greater than 20 years — had been set to inherit their dad’s 50% of the corporate underneath a 2016 shareholder settlement George and Stefanos Evangelinos signed in 2016.
However after George Menegatos died in March 2021 of COVID-19 at 68, Evangelinos repeatedly claimed there was no settlement, in line with the litigation.
Evangelinos, 59, “repeatedly and affirmatively” lied to George’s widow Mary and three grownup kids, property attorneys, the corporate accountant and others, claiming New Yorker Bagel operated solely on a “handshake” association, the Menegatos household claimed.
A couple of 12 months earlier than his dying, “George was speaking to Stefanos . . . making clear that his sons, and the household’s future in NYWB, had been now in Stefanos’s palms,” in line with court docket papers.
“George anticipated Stefanos to guard them, to be straight with them, and to honor the succession plan George had put in place — to not make the most of their belief or their grief.”
George and Nicholas launched their enterprise in 1981 in a storefront on Sixth Avenue within the West Village known as Bagel Buffet. Inside two years they had been creaming the competitors, prompting the pair to maneuver into wholesale operations and relocate to Astoria. The enterprise now runs a manufacturing facility on twelfth road and thirty fourth Avenue in LIC.
George and Nicholas ran New Yorker Bagels collectively till Nicholas’ well being started to fail, in line with the lawsuit, and George took the youthful Evangelinos underneath his wing and into the enterprise. They grew to become equal companions in 1987.
“The Menegatos and Evangelinos households had been intertwined for generations. Their relationship prolonged far past commerce and was marked by mutual reliance and deep private belief,” in line with the litigation.
When Evenagelinos was unable to work for a 12 months after an damage, George Menegatos continued to pay his wage, his household stated. Spiro Menegatos is godfather to Evenagelinos’ daughter, “a job of significance in Greek Orthodox custom, making a non secular and familial bond.”
However Evangelinos allegedly confirmed no coronary heart after George’s dying — and solely needed the dough, the Menegatos’ stated.
He allegedly “induced” Spiro Menegatos to signal papers giving him a $600,000 cost; gave firm cash to his personal family and friends and finally, canned his lifeless associate’s son Steven and daughter Pleasure from the enterprise, in line with the lawsuit.
A lawyer for Spiro and Steven Menegatos declined remark.
Evangelinos didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
