A legendary New York bagel business that sells an estimated 100 million bagels a year and generates roughly $50 million in annual revenue is now at the center of a bitter legal battle that has split a once-tight-knit bagel dynasty.
According to a lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court, the families behind New Yorker Wholesale Bagels are locked in a high-stakes succession dispute following the death of co-founder George Menegatos.
The case pits Menegatos’ widow and children against Stefanos Evangelinos, the son of George’s longtime business partner Nicholas Evangelinos. The Menegatos family alleges Stefanos wrongfully cut them out of their father’s 50% ownership stake after George died of COVID-19 in March 2021 at age 68…