They were bound by trust, loyalty and dough \u2014 until a betrayal blew a bagel hole in their $50 million a year business.<\/p>\n
A Queens-based empire that peddles 100 million bagels a year is being torn asunder by a succession fight between the children of founders George Menegatos and Nicholas Evangelinos.<\/p>\n
The bond between the families behind New Yorker Wholesale Bagels \u2014 once thicker than cream cheese \u2014 is now toast after Nicholas\u2019 son Stefanos allegedly cut George\u2019s kids out of the business, denying them their father\u2019s company shares after his death, they said in a $25 million Brooklyn Federal Court lawsuit.<\/p>\n
George Menegatos and Nicholas Evangelinos launched their wholesale bagel business in the 1980s. Courtesy of DGW Kramer LLP<\/p>\n
Stefanos Evangelinos \u201cwas George\u2019s 50\/50 partner . . . holding himself out as the point person for NYWB\u2019s corporate information, and the person George had instructed [his family] to treat as an \u2018older brother,\u2019 \u201d the family said in court papers.<\/p>\n
The bagel boss was \u201cuniquely positioned to be believed \u2014 and he exploited that trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
George\u2019s sons Spiro, 43, and Steven, 40 \u2014 who worked at the Long Island City business for more than 20 years \u2014 were set to inherit their dad\u2019s 50% of the company under a 2016 shareholder agreement George and Stefanos Evangelinos signed in 2016.<\/p>\n
But after George Menegatos died in March 2021 of COVID-19 at 68, Evangelinos repeatedly claimed there was no agreement, according to the litigation.<\/p>\n
Evangelinos, 59, \u201crepeatedly and affirmatively\u201d lied to George\u2019s widow Mary and three adult children, estate lawyers, the company accountant and others, claiming New Yorker Bagel operated only on a \u201chandshake\u201d arrangement, the Menegatos family claimed.<\/p>\n
The original Bagel Buffet was such a hit, Menegatos and Evangelinos decided to expand their business just two years later. Courtesy of DGW Kramer LLP<\/p>\n
About a year before his death, \u201cGeorge was talking to Stefanos . . . making clear that his sons, and the family\u2019s future in NYWB, were now in Stefanos\u2019s hands,\u201d according to court papers.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeorge expected Stefanos to protect them, to be straight with them, and to honor the succession plan George had put in place \u2014 not to take advantage of their trust or their grief.\u201d<\/p>\n
George and Nicholas launched their business in 1981 in a storefront on Sixth Avenue in the West Village called Bagel Buffet. Within two years they were creaming the competition, prompting the pair to move into wholesale operations and relocate to Astoria. The business now runs a factory on 12th street and 34th Avenue in LIC.<\/p>\n
George Menegatos intended to leave his company shares to his sons, Spiro and Steven, the family said in a lawsuit. Provided by DGW Kramer LLP<\/p>\n
George and Nicholas ran New Yorker Bagels together until Nicholas\u2019 health began to fail, according to the lawsuit, and George took the younger Evangelinos under his wing and into the business. They became equal partners in 1987.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Menegatos and Evangelinos families were intertwined for generations. Their relationship extended far beyond commerce and was marked by mutual reliance and deep personal trust,\u201d according to the litigation.<\/p>\n
When Evenagelinos was unable to work for a year after an injury, George Menegatos continued to pay his salary, his family said. Spiro Menegatos is godfather to Evenagelinos\u2019 daughter, \u201ca role of significance in Greek Orthodox tradition, creating a spiritual and familial bond.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Evangelinos allegedly showed no heart after George\u2019s death \u2014 and only wanted the dough, the Menegatos\u2019 said.<\/p>\n
He allegedly \u201cinduced\u201d Spiro Menegatos to sign papers giving him a $600,000 payment; gave company money to his own friends and family and eventually, canned his dead partner\u2019s son Steven and daughter Joy from the business, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
A lawyer for Spiro and Steven Menegatos declined comment.<\/p>\n
Evangelinos did not immediately respond to requests for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They were bound by trust, loyalty and dough \u2014 until a betrayal blew a bagel hole in their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8202,44680,2850,57,9,56,63,65,64,122,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-95928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-bagels","9":"tag-betrayal","10":"tag-lawsuits","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-nyc-headlines","16":"tag-nyc-news","17":"tag-queens","18":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}