Junior's, the highly-popular Queens, NYC cheesecake restaurant and "bake factory" that churns out and sells more than a million of their little piece of cheesy heaven a year, is taking its baking operation from the New York City to New Jersey's Burlington, the Crains New York is one of the first news outlets to report.
A move that has gotten the patrons of this cheesy goodness delight a little bit wary of.
But, third-generation owner Alan Rosen simply played down any concerns on the potential change in quality of the cheesecake that everybody loves. "It's not like bagels that are made using New York water," he told the New York Daily News. "The quality of our cakes won't change one ounce, as it hasn't in 65 years."
Now, New Yorker fans can breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Crains learned that it's the city's expensive real estate that prompted the Junior's team to make the change of zip code for their baking facility. "We can't afford the real estate around here," says Rosen.
"New York is very interested in residential development, but commercial is tough, and it doesn't make sense for a bakery to acquire that real estate," he added.
The business move came on the heels of the expiration of the company's lease for the 20,000-square-foot complex along Maurice Ave. in the Maspeth neighborhood. The building, which has been home to Junior's baking operations counterpart, the GAD Bakeries, for about 15 years, will also be up for sale.
GAD Bakeries, which has about 60 employees, bakes for Junior's wholesale and mail-to-order business, and mostly supplies its cheesecake stores in the city.
The new baking facility in New Jersey will have more than 100,000 square feet in working space and offers more refrigeration and freezing equipment. The rent was also cheaper compared to other nearby locations within the Queens area, as noted by Crains.
Junior's has been offering their cheesecake and other desserts since the 1950's through their different outpost locations in Times Square, Grand Central Terminal and at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut. Meanwhile, the original restaurant at DeKalb Ave. and Flatbush Ave. Extension will continue their baking operations within the compound in a smaller capacity.
Just last year, Rosen turned down a $45 million offer from developers for their two-story flagship location, says the New York Daily News.
"I've been eating Junior's cheesecake for over 30 years," Donna Buchanan, a secretary from Brooklyn, said. "As long as they keep the same formula, I'm good."
