

It opened a Moynihan Train Hall location in 2021. In 2019, H&H Bagels opened locations at JFK Airport and LaGuardia Airport. In 2017, it launched its wholesale business supplying bagels to retailers around the world. H&H Bagels opened a new retail location on the Upper West Side in 2016. In 2014, a new CEO joined the company, implementing a new "national" approach. In the meantime, H&H Bagels on the Upper East Side continued its normal operations. Marc Zirogiannis wrote this business memoir on his experiences as an advisor to the owner, Helmer Toro.

The final days and collapse of Toro's portion of H&H are chronicled in The Rise and Fall of H&H Bagels. The West 46th and West 80th retail locations closed in January 2012. Toro's portion of H&H filed for bankruptcy protection in February 2011 in an effort to maintain its manufacturing facility in Secaucus, New Jersey, but ultimately that facility was sold at auction in October 2011. In May 2010 he pleaded guilty to grand larceny, and was sentenced to pay restitution of more than $540,000 and to a jail term, which he served over the course of 50 weekends from June 2010 to July 2011. The indictment alleged that between July 2003 and April 2009, Toro failed to pay $369,000 withheld from H&H employees. On November 18, 2009, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau announced the indictment and arrest of Helmer Toro for stealing, withholding taxes and evading unemployment insurance taxes. In 1993 Toro moved his bakery to 46th Street at 12th Avenue in Hell's Kitchen, although his primary storefront remained on the Upper West Side. In 1979 H&H went bankrupt for the first time which resulted in a new group taking over ownership of the Upper East Side H&H location while Toro retained ownership of the Upper West Side location. In 1974 Toro opened H&H Midtown Bagels East on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
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Toro eventually assumed full control of the business. The business was started in 1972 when Puerto Rican Helmer Toro and his brother-in-law Hector Hernandez (hence "H&H"), bought Midtown Bagels at Broadway and 80th Street for $5,000 ($35,000 in 2018 dollar terms) in cash and $50,000 ($350,000 in 2018 dollar terms) in a loan. H&H Bagels also has nationwide shipping and global wholesale businesses. H&H Bagels is a bagel company in New York City that has been described as "classic," "famous," and "iconic." It operates five retail locations in New York City, with plans for 25 more stores across the United States.
