Steve Girard was a bagel guy before bagels were cool.
In 1982, when he opened his first bagel store in Columbia, Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" ruled the airwaves, moviegoers rushed to see Poltergeist, the computer was Time magazine's Machine of the Year, and less than 20 percent of the nation's population had ever had the doughnut-shaped bread.
Now, there's hardly anyone who hasn't had one, and bagel shops around the country are folding. That puts Girard in a tough position. When his company celebrates 20 years in the business next month, it will still be churning out bagels, but the shine is gone.
Between Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, Girard's chain of four Bagel Bin restaurants in Howard County has become something of a neighborhood gathering place, especially for those who have been in the community for a long time.
But the ubiquity of the bagel is working against stores like his. Sales in Girard's restaurants are flat. Business is up slightly but only because his manufacturing plant in Elkridge is growing in the wholesale business, and the company is fighting off new, fancy sandwich shops for a share of the market.
"There's been a consolidation and a fall-out of weaker players," Girard said, sipping coffee at the food court in The Mall in Columbia. "We've had to become smarter, expand our lunch menu, expand our breads to croissants, pita pockets and sub rolls."
The problems Girard is seeing are happening all over the nation.
New World Restaurant Group Inc. - now the nation's top bagel seller with more than 700 restaurants - has made a business in the past few years of buying bagel restaurants swimming in red ink. Manhattan Bagel, the once locally owned Chesapeake Bagel Bakery and Einstein/Noah Bagel Corp. are now all part of the New World conglomerate. But the reason the restaurants have been in trouble is because people are not eating as many bagels, according to NPD Group, a New York market research firm.
In 1988, 2 percent of all restaurant breakfasts included a bagel. In 1997, that number was 8.1 percent, but in 2000, the figure was down to 6 percent, according to the New York firm's research.
"It's not a category that's growing in consumption. You're talking about gaining share in a declining market, which is a tough position to be in," said Harry Balzer, vice president of the NPD Group.
"The bagels' best days were seen four or five years ago," Balzer said. "Those who do a good job of delivering a good product in a good, clean environment will survive."
Girard knows that story all too well.
In 1982, when he and a partner opened his first Bagel Shoppe in Wilde Lake Village Center, business was good. Four years later, Girard bought his partner out. In 1989, he expanded to a second store in Kings Contrivance. In 1992, the company opened a manufacturing plant and changed the name of the stores and the company to Bagel Bin.
The Enchanted Forest location opened a year later, and in 1996 the company doubled its manufacturing space. The last store, in River Hill Village Center, opened in 1997.
Like most retail businesses in Columbia, Bagel Bin has faced challenges in finding and keeping good employees. In addition to paying more than minimum wage, Girard has offered tuition reimbursement, signing bonuses and health benefits - even employee birthday parties. A companywide evaluation about three years ago resulted in a significant shakeout of managers, but Girard said the company's management has stabilized since then.
Of the four restaurants, Wilde Lake, the flagship, is still the most popular, with its volume of 1,500 bagels a week ahead of River Hill, its closest competitor.
And along the way, Bagel Bin stores - especially the Wilde Lake shop - have come to be the neighborhood hangout, where patrons linger over coffee and the morning paper. One patron joked that the crowd that spent evenings at the local pub in his younger days is now the morning crew at Bagel Bin.
Another patron - Del. Elizabeth Bobo - said she is teased often that a booth in the shop is her Columbia office.
"We come here just about every day we're in town," she said. "We always see people we know here."
Ann Dohler, a lifelong Columbia resident, grew up on Bagel Bin, and now brings her kids for a morning treat.
"They're the best bagel shop in Columbia," she said. "My daughter loves the blueberry."
But the restaurants are not growing like the wholesale business, which makes up about 25 percent of the company's revenue, Girard said. Bagel Bin supplies raw dough for eight shops in the area from Silver Spring to Glendon.
The manufacturing plant mixes, pours and freezes 78,000 bagels each week and ships them to grocery stores and restaurants. Flour - the main commodity at the plant - is delivered by tractor trailer load in 100-pound bags every three weeks, Girard said.
Wholesale sales have expanded to local agencies. Recent contracts include Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and Howard County General Hospital. Girard said the company is working on establishing a contract with the National Security Agency.
"Our wholesale has grown dramatically," he said. "That's where the business seems to be taking us."
Girard says that although the stores are facing challenges, they are healthy. He is hopeful that their more aggressive marketing strategy, which includes delivery of breakfast platters to businesses, will help boost sales and keep the company profitable and growing.
Now that the company has gotten through a rough period, in terms of management and finding employees, Girard said he is focusing on doing things to improve the appearance of the stores. Wilde Lake, for example, is scheduled for new lighting this summer.
It is a move he hopes will let the customers know they are appreciated, he said.
"What you have to do is stay fresh," he said.