Family finds recipe for success with bagels; Brother opens Cape ‘branch’ of popular Fort Myers family-owned business
By JENN LUCAS, jlucas@breezenewspapers.com
On a recent sunny morning, cars honked at an employee dressed as a giant bagel waving by the roadside at 3571 Del Prado Blvd. in Northwest Cape Coral. Two lanes away, customers in a steady stream entered the new Bagel Factory, which opened in the Entrade Plaza this month.
Inside the shop’s owners, David and Norma Lukasiak, cheerfully took customers’ orders, while their daughter, Gina, carefully layered ham, eggs and cheese on top of bagels, then toasting them until the cheese was warm and bubbly.
The recipients of those sandwiches, Walter Olson and Rose Trobato of Georgia and Rose Toscano of North Fort Myers, dug in quickly and remarked among themselves about how tasty their breakfast was. The trio were all first-time customers at The Bagel Factory and said they’d be coming back as often as they can for seconds.
“We saw an advertisement in the newspaper that this place opened,” Olson said, “so we decided to come try it for breakfast and are happy. We’re from Georgia, so I don’t know when we’ll make it back.”
“But I’ll be back often,” said Toscano, a seven-year resident of North Fort Myers. “I’m happy it’s so close.”
Though the location may be close for Toscano, it could be considered a bit of a drive for most Cape residents. But Lukasiak said he purposely chose the location since the area there is growing so rapidly.
“There’s nothing out here for residents,” he said. “There’s nowhere to get a good meal except for a few fast food places. We can offer a good, healthy alternative.”
According to Lukasiak, most bagels have about 220 calories, with some of the sweeter varieties containing slightly more — about 280. The bagels are all made from scratch at his brother’s Fort Myers location and are brought over bright and early each day.
“We get them fresh every day. There’s no carry-over where are bagels are concerned,” he said.
Bagel Factory bagels are boiled in a kettle and dried on cedar boards before they are baked, Lukasiak said, which is what gives them a one-of-a-kind flavor and texture. The baker starts the process around 1 a.m., using a fourth generation recipe, so when customers awake hungry, they have their pick of 27 different varieties.
“We have all kinds,” said Lukasiak’s wife, Norma. “Everything from peanut butter to spinach parmesan to plain and chocolate chip.”
To go along with the abundance of bagels, there are 15 different flavors of cream cheese, which range from sweet, like walnut cinnamon raisin, to savory, like sun dried tomato and basil. There’s also lox, a variety of homemade salads — like whitefish, chicken or egg — and a full line of Boar’s Head meats and cheeses to create your own unique lunch.
“The deli sandwiches come on the bagel of your choice, and include about a quarter pound of meat. They’ve been called ‘generous,'” Lukasiak said.
And with all the variety, Norma said there has been some strange creations.
“We had a guy who ordered a Reuben on a peanut butter bagel,” she said. “He absolutely loved it.”
Gina said she has one customer who enjoys veggie cream cheese along side his peanut butter bagel, which is a little “strange.” She said she’s seen a lot since she had been training at the Fort Myers location for about eight months. Not just seeing a lot but learning a lot, too, she said.
Without Gina’s dedication, Lukasiak said his location of the Bagel Factory wouldn’t be possible.
“I’m indebted to her,” he said. “She’s a full-time student at FGCU and gets up at 5 in the morning to help her dad out, I couldn’t be more thankful.”
Bagels were never really on the fore front of any of three Lukasiaks’ minds before three years ago. David was an officer in the Coast Guard, which he had been a part of for 24 years; Norma was, and still is, a medical technician; and Gina studies art history. The family decided to open the business after Mark Lukasiak approached David and asked him to retire to help run his second shop. David asked his wife, and they agreed to go for it.
“My brother’s first location was so successful he wanted to open a second store,” David said. “He realized after the hurricanes he couldn’t run both businesses and still have enough time for his family, so he asked us to help.”
And it’s the business that Gina said is bringing the family closer together.
“The best part of my job is being with my parents,” she said.
David said it was a homecoming of sorts which made him realize this is where he wanted to be and what he wanted to do.
“I working on Fort Myers Beach and my brother just had moved back from Arkansas, that’s how we came back together. I had the benefit of learning from him. He is a great mentor when he comes to this.”
About the business
What: The Bagel Factory
Where: 3571 Del Prado Blvd., N.
Owners: David and Norma Lukasiak
What they offer: Freshly baked homemade bagels in 27 varieties from the traditional like sesame and blueberry to the exotic like jalapeno and Hawaiian; 15 flavors of cream cheese; hot breakfast sandwiches; and deli creations featuring a 1/4 pound Boar’s Head meat and a selection of seven cheeses
Hours: 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday; 7 a.m .to 3 p.m., Saturday; and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday.
Information: Call 573-9500, fax 573-9003 or visit: www.thebagelfactory.com