New Ownership
In the spring of 1984, the Lender family sold Lender's Frozen Bagels to Kraft Foods, with the stipulation that Marvin would remain president and Murray spokesman for the next two years. Murray Lender publicized the sale in characteristic form, by holding "the marriage of the century", with Murray and Marvin escorting a 6-foot-tall (1.8 m) Lender’s Bagel, "Len", down the aisle to meet his new bride, "Phyl", a Kraft Philadelphia brand cream cheese. In 1987, Lender's had three plants in West Haven, a plant in New Haven, one in Buffalo, New York, and one in Mattoon, Illinois; the latter is the site of the annual "Bagelfest". Kraft, who reportedly spent $12 to $15 million annually to advertise Lender's bagels, sold the company to Kellogg Company in 1996 for $455 million. Analysts criticized Kellogg's investment in a frozen product at a time when the popularity of fresh bagels was rising. Kellogs introduced a $20 million television campaign for Lender's in Fall 1997. In October 1999, Kellogs sold the business to San Francisco based Aurora Foods for $275 million, and ceased production at the New Haven factory in March 2000. In 2003, Aurora was bought by Pinnacle Foods, a company of the Blackstone Group since 2007. The Lender's Bagels brand is still in production with a wide variety of bagels.
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