• Bob Leonard

A bagel-baking rookie has taken over a Burlington bagel shop from a longtime pro. Bob Leonard, a hockey dad from South Burlington, has purchased Feldman's Bagels from Roy Feldman, who opened the Pine Street café with his daughter, Maddy Feldman, four years ago.

Leonard, 63, is the owner of Green Mountain Avalanche, a hockey management company that runs youth tournaments at Jay Peak Resort. He was looking for a new line of work closer to home, he said, when he purchased Feldman's in late February.

"I came in here and fell in love with it," he said. "It's fairly easy to run, but you got to pay attention to details. I'm not really going to change anything. It's successful, so don't fix it if it's not broken."

Leonard did add an Asiago cheese bagel to the traditional New York-style offerings. It "seems to be a big hit," he said.

The Feldmans will stay on at the shop for a few months, checking on "quality and procedure," Roy said. Meanwhile, Leonard is getting practice in all aspects of the business.

"You'll find me in the back mixing dough, baking, prepping food, cooking eggs, washing dishes," he said. "What I'm really paying attention to is learning how to bake and mix."

Leonard is keeping the staff of 14 and the name of the business, which serves sandwiches, soups and salads. "It's fun," he said. "I'm having a ball."

Roy Feldman, 60, said he'll likely pursue a new business venture but isn't ready to talk about it. "I feel like I was one of the luckiest parents in the world to work with Maddy," he said. "I had the opportunity here to do something I could have only dreamed of."