Longtime Brighton bakery under new management
Malek’s Bakery in Brighton, for nearly five decades a go-to for kosher-certified, dairy-free pastries, cakes and breads, is under new management.
Naftali Hanau, 38, who grew up in the town, is now overseeing the business at 1795 Monroe Ave. and in the coming weeks and months plans to expand breakfast and lunch options.
In 2010, he started kosher meat company Grow & Behold Foods in Brooklyn. He sold the business in 2022.
Last summer, Hanau, his wife, Anna, 42, a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, and their three young children moved to Rochester.
“We had sold our business and were thinking about what the next steps would be,” said Hanau, who graduated from Brighton High School in 2003.
Opening a community-centered deli, bakery and catering business had been discussed.
But they weren’t in a rush, and “Our intention was not to take over Malek’s,” he said.
Hanau had been recruited to work as director of finance for Hillel Community Day School, which owns Malek’s (and also runs a full-service, kosher, rabbinically overseen food operation for students, staff and families).
In December, the school, which Hanau attended as a child, approached him about managing the bakery, and he accepted.
He’s still doing bookkeeping for the school but plans to ease out of that role.
Hillel Board President Yosef Kilimnick said the school is “very excited at the new direction Malek’s will be taking under alum Naftali Hanau.”
Hanau is in the throes of reorganizing the bakery’s layout to make room for a coffee station and a couple of small tables.
He also plans to introduce more savory breakfast and lunch items, including egg sandwiches, whitefish and lox, soups, borekas and more, while continuing to produce the items Malek’s is known for — pastries, kuchens, custom cake, challah and so on.
Future plans include online ordering (a selection of bakery offerings is available on UberEats and GrubHub), group deliveries to local schools and catering.
The business was founded in 1977 by Lea Malek, a Holocaust survivor from Hungary.
In 2011, she sold it to her head baker, Hoang Ngo, a refugee from Vietnam of Chinese heritage.
In 2021, he put it up for sale, saying he wished to retire.
Hillel Community Day School bought it in 2022.
Under its agreement with Hanau, he has the option to buy Malek’s at the end of 2024.
Meanwhile, “There’s a lot of work to be done,” he said.
Business hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday. Malek’s is closed on Saturday and major Jewish holidays.
Reporter Marcia Greenwood covers general assignments. Send story tips to mgreenwo@rocheste.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @MarciaGreenwood.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Malek’s Bakery in Brighton NY under new management
