An Extraordinary Woman

The Kaz Bagels Story. I’m Mark Bowen, a bagel loving ex-New Yorker (albeit Upstate), whose Great Grandmother - Josephine Bieganski - moved from Poland to NYC in the 1920’s, got married to Joseph Kazyaka (Hence the Kaz Bagels name) and then moved to Schenectady NY, where she was chagrined to learn that no good bagels existed at that time. So, she learned to make her own. As a boy in the 1960’s and ‘70’s, I would eagerly await her fresh, crusty, chewy bagels on the weekends - and it made her as happy as can be.

As the Bay Area has only a couple of traditional handmade bagel shops to this day, We have worked hard to replicate her authentic recipe for our customers - because it would have made her truly happy and proud. We hope you like them!