Influential Women Profiles Melanie Frost: Building Leaders and Honoring a Family Legacy at Ess-a-Bagel

NY, UNITED STATES, November 13, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- As Chief Executive Officer of Ess-a-Bagel, Melanie Frost Guides an Iconic New York City Food Brand Through Growth While Developing People and Preserving a Culture of Care

New York, New York – Melanie Frost is the Chief Executive Officer of Ess-a-Bagel, Inc., a renowned New York City food business known for its iconic bagels. She stepped into leadership alongside her mother following the passing of her aunt, one of the company’s original founders. Since then, she has guided the transformation of the family-run shop into a scalable enterprise with multiple Manhattan and Brooklyn locations, airport concessions, manufacturing capabilities, and nationwide shipping partnerships. Under her leadership, Ess-a-Bagel has grown through retail expansion, par-baked product distribution, catering, and collaborations with platforms such as Goldbelly and Wonder.

Melanie brings a professional background in sales, marketing, and business development. Before fully stepping into the family business, she built a successful career in corporate sales and outsourcing, generating significant revenue and leading high-performing teams in competitive markets. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Boston University and studied international relations and affairs at Tel Aviv University. At Ess-a-Bagel, she has focused on modernizing operations by implementing systems, strengthening infrastructure, and expanding into airport retail and wholesale manufacturing, while maintaining the brand’s long-standing commitment to quality and tradition. Her husband serves as COO, and other family members remain actively involved in operations.

Melanie attributes much of her success to the shift in how she leads. Guiding a company of this size, she has found, requires learning to delegate, trust the team, and give people real ownership. In her article, The CEO Transition No One Talks About, she reflects that the biggest change in becoming CEO happened within her. She describes moving from solving problems herself to developing problem-solvers, and from measuring her value by what she accomplishes to measuring it by how much the people around her grow.

That same shift shapes the challenges and opportunities she sees in her field. Delegating and trusting team members when she is no longer in direct control is an ongoing test, as is staying focused while growing infrastructure and finding the right people. Her advice to young women entering the industry is to be self-aware and willing to change as the business changes, to remain open and adaptable, and to take carefully assessed risks.

Melanie’s values center on leading with integrity and ethics, keeping a good attitude, and staying adaptable. She would rather work with someone who has the right attitude than with someone more skilled who has the wrong one. She also honors her aunt’s belief that the bagels were special because they were made with love, a lesson she now sees as a commitment to care, pride, and making every customer and employee feel valued. Outside the business, she supports St. Jude, Ronald McDonald House, the American Cancer Society, Make-A-Wish, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Smile Train.

Through her focus on people, culture, and thoughtful growth, Melanie continues to carry a beloved family institution into its next chapter. Melanie Frost shows that lasting success comes from building leaders as carefully as building a business.

Learn More about Melanie Frost:

Through her Influential Women profile: https://influentialwomen.com/connect/melanie-frost

Influential Women

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