"In 1989 I would open The Daily Bagel in Yorktown Heights, NY. I had decided to cross a NY bagel store with a traditional bakery and the bakery side of the business was made possible only through the teachings of two great mentors. Bennett Pakula of the famous Pakula's Bakery instilled a love of scratch baking which was a vanishing trade as the large commercial suppliers would introduce instant cake mixes that made baking easier to the point where anyone who could measure water could become a baker. Unfortunately, with ease came sameness and lack of originality. It was my desire to be unique and original that tempted Brian Farkos, a graduate of the CIA, to not only help me open that first store but to also teach me they science of baking.
The combination of scratch baking and my in-bred love to see people happy through food brought unbelievable success. But the lessons I learned in that first little bakery are what this site is all about. The most valued lessons learned in those years did not come from baking but in the store front. It was those face-to-face moments with customers that provided me with an appreciation of the absolute necessity to treat them like they were sitting at my own dinner table."
- Jimmy "The Baker" Tanico