NJ Bagels Changed This Austrian Student’s Life. Now She Runs Her Own Shop

MONTCLAIR, NJ — There is an alluring power in a New Jersey bagel. Just ask Judy Karner.

This past October, a new shop called Montclair Bagels opened in Graz, Austria.

According to a social media post from the township, the business is founded by Karner, an Austrian student who spent the 2021–2022 academic year at Montclair State University through a student exchange program with the University of Graz.

“Somewhere between classes, coffee runs and way too many bagels, I fell completely in love with NYC bagel culture,” Karner recently recalled.

It wasn’t long before the delicious obsession sank its doughy hooks into the eager college student, who began dreaming about starting a bagel shop of her own one day. This hunger soon led her to a quest of eating her way through dozens of bagel hotspots across the nation… testing dough… tweaking recipes.

It isn’t easy to nail down the elusive reason why NYC and New Jersey bagels are so delicious and inimitable. But a glimpse at the Montclair Bagels website shows Karner may have hit on the secret:

“For some people, a bagel is just bread with a hole in it. For us, it was always something more: the classic New York bagel you can find on almost every street corner there, with its shiny, crispy crust and that dense, chewy bite. The idea of bringing exactly this bagel to Graz has been on our minds for almost five years, and we have spent the last three of them baking, testing and tweaking until we finally got it right. The ingredients themselves are simple: strong high-gluten flour, water, salt, yeast and a little barley malt, which gives the bagel its slightly sweet, malty flavour. What really makes the difference is the work that goes into it. Every single bagel is rolled by hand, one after the other. It is time-consuming, but there is no other way to get the texture we are after, and it means that no two of our bagels ever look quite the same.”

When Karner returned to Austria, she put her newfound expertise into action, opening her shop near the University of Graz.

It was a natural decision to name it after the place where it all began, Karner said.

According to Karner and Montclair township officials, the relationship between the town and Austria goes much deeper than just a single bagel shop.

The town has had a “sister city” affiliation with Graz for more than 75 years. The relationship between the two cities began in the aftermath of World War II as a humanitarian outreach program, township officials previously explained:

“In the early years of the partnership, Montclair sent much-needed medical supplies and care packages to the people of Graz. Mountainside Hospital even donated an x-ray machine and an incubator to help restore health services in the war-torn city.”

This relationship has since grown into a dynamic, cross-cultural exchange that continues to connect the two communities today.

Now, that also includes a common love for bagels – New Jersey style.

• Related: Montclair Marks 75th Anniversary Of 'Sister City' Status With Graz

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