Across 30 years in the Atlanta food industry, Wayne Saxe and Howard Aaron have built a small culinary empire as co-owners of Goldbergs Fine Foods, “Atlanta’s original New York-style deli.” But their sizable corporate portfolio all started with a small bagel shop.
The brothers-in-law migrated to Georgia from South Africa in 1992 with hopes of working in the food industry. Howard Aaron said he had experience back in Johannesburg, and he wanted to revisit the field. After searching, the duo found Goldberg & Son, a small father-and-son Atlanta deli run by Maury and Jack Goldberg.
The deli, which had opened off Roswell Road in Buckhead in 1972, was only about 1,200 square feet with a few tables. It ran primarily off takeout for its simple menu, which consisted of a few bagels, cream cheese and sandwiches. But the food was good, and it reminded them of the meals their Jewish grandmothers cooked at home.
“We had a vision, we liked the product and we thought we could expand it,” Saxe said.
The pair bought out the deli from the father and son in Dec. 1992 and quickly got to work running the place. Aaron managed back-of-house while Saxe “crunched the numbers” with his accounting experience. In 1993, they embarked as the sole owners of Goldbergs Bagel Company & Deli, working with about four employees to serve up bagels and sandwiches to Atlanta.
The deli owners wanted to expand, but they were committed to quality food first.
“Doesn’t matter about the price and whatever it takes, we will always have a quality product and quality service,” Saxe said. “In the food business, those are the only two things that we sell: service and quality of food.”
Aaron said the deli was a hit from the moment they opened it. Customers would hang out, “schmooze,” and talk to each other.
“It was a very homey, welcoming environment,” Aaron said.
But the pair had their sights set further. They opened up more stores across Metro Atlanta with locations in Dunwoody, East Cobb and West Paces. As their brick-and-mortar locations increased, they ventured into the wholesale business and stocked Costco shelves, too.
By 2015, Goldberg had expanded as a restaurant and retail operation. They had opened a secondary company, Goldberg Concessions, to feed the city’s “traveling public.” In 2015, Saxe and Howard caught wind of a request for business proposals at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The busiest airport in the world was looking to sign a deal for the 10 Delta SkyClubs paying members to visit before flights.
“Everyone who owns a retail business wants to be in the airport because of how lucrative it is,” Saxe said.
They submitted a proposal and won the contract to supply bagels and cream cheese to Delta SkyClubs in Atlanta. With that expansion, they opened up Goldbergs Commissary to manage the SkyClub food.
Their investment in the Atlanta airport took off from there, as Goldberg slowly took over all the food for the airports. They also expanded elsewhere – in 2015, Saxe and Aaron opened up the Atlanta Braves All-Star Grill in downtown Atlanta.
Now owners of a catalog of companies, Saxe and Aaron had no intentions of slowing down.
“We got a call from Delta again, and they said, ‘Listen, you know we put food on our planes. Would there be any interest in you guys doing that?'” Saxe said.
They were the only self-identified “little bagel place” to try for the contract with Delta out of dozens of other companies. Still, they got the deal, which Saxe attributes to their product quality.
“We had the best service in town, the best quality and all of the Delta leaders come to our business anyways,” Saxe said.
With that, Goldbergs Fine Foods started supplying all of the international flights out of Atlanta with food. They also served American Airlines and United Airlines with in-cabin options. Since they were in airports so much, Saxe and Aaron decided to take on an entirely different avenue: construction.
They started up yet another company, Goldway Construction, which built out restaurants in Hartsfield-Jackson airport. Now they have over 2,000 employees, a major jump from the few Saxe and Aaron started with.
Even though they’re the co-owners of a major portfolio of companies, Saxe and Aaron still see themselves as the “little bagel shop,” adding a personal touch to every operation.
“We don’t take any shortcuts, and, you know, we do things correctly,” Aaron said.
The shops are far from little nowadays, though. Their staff produces more than 500 dozen bagels every weekday and more than 1,000 dozen bagels every weekend. The menu is also bigger, with 32 varieties at each location.
No matter the size, Howard and Saxe want to keep the small business feel. They focus on community engagement by donating leftover goods from restaurants and airports to Atlanta’s homeless population. They also keep the business in the family.
Both of Saxe’s sons run companies under the umbrella. His oldest son runs Mainland Foods, which consists of the food production facilities. His younger son runs Goldway Construction.
“They’re excelling in those parts of the business, and it’s worked out very well for us,” Saxe said.
After decades in the business, Saxe and Howard are still heavily involved in each part of the business. The scope has changed, but the co-owners are clear on their focus.
“We just want to stick to our basics and remember our roots, how we started and where we are,” Aaron said. “If you asked either one of us 30 years ago if we’d be where we are today, I don’t believe any of us would have realized. “
So honored and happy I was able to be a small part of Goldberg’s beginnings….an amazing flight over the years.