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Four thousand bagels and at least 5,500 cups of coffee.
That’s the order The Bagel Hut in Farmingdale received for Ryder Cup Week at Bethpage Black.
No, they aren’t for the hungry golfers or early-rising golf fans.
It’s for the volunteers working the event — delivered fresh every day at 4 a.m.
“It would be so much easier if I just gave them plain bagels,” joked owner Gary Turturro. “But we are giving them an assortment. We will slice them, and also supply the cream cheese and butter.”
Turtorro tells Greater Long Island that’s about double the amount of bagels he normally sells on a given week, which means the shop really has to ramp up production.
“We are going to start at 10 p.m. each night that week; we usually start at 3 a.m. We will work through the night and I’ll be here helping too. We don’t use anything frozen; every single one is boiled fresh, the old fashioned way.”
So how did he land this breakfast boon?
Turturro, who first opened The Bagel Hut in Farmingdale nearly 30 years ago, said his biggest catering order ever happened by chance.
“The Ryder Cup people opened up an office around the corner from us,” he said. “The women who were running it became frequent customers of mine and one day they came to me and told me my bagels were great and I would be a great fit for the event.
“I jumped at the opportunity.”
The Bagel Hut isn’t the only Farmingdale business feeding the massive operation behind Ryder Cup Week.
Felico’s Catering has been hard at work for the past three months, keeping construction crews fed during lunchtime, as they transform the course for the international event.
“When I started delivering food in a few months ago, there were just about 40 people coming into our tent every day,” said Matt Tavernite, from Felico’s. “Now, we feed so many people, we had to get a bigger tent.”
And they’re fed well.
It’s a rotating menu of different chicken dishes, pastas, Caribbean food, smash burgers, desserts and more.
“We let the food do the talking,” said Frank Felico, the owner and founder. “We knew whoever was in charge was going to fall in love with our food, so when the Ryder Cup opened its Farmingdale office we sent over plenty of food for them to sample. And here we are”
Unlike The Bagel Hut, Felico’s gets a break during tournament week since there will be no construction workers on site.
But that doesn’t mean their work is done. Once the last putt drops, they’ll be back onsite the next day to feed the post-tournament cleanup crews for at least one week.
Bethpage Black will host the Ryder Cup for the first time Sept. 23-28.
