^{(From left to right: Gennaro, Oriana, Luigi, Tony, Ciro.)}

THB Bagelry & Deli is proud to shine a spotlight on co-owner and Director of Finance, Oriana Scotto, for International Women’s Day, in partnership with Yelp Baltimore and their Women’s History Month “Women Run Baltimore” campaign.

The Scotto family arrived from Italy in 1999. Oriana soon began working at the family restaurant in Baltimore while also attending college. It was her goal to obtain her BA at Towson University and then return to Italy where she had grown up. However, luckily for us, plans changed, and Oriana decided to stay in Maryland after seeing that it was a great place to live. Go Maryland!

1999 was also the same year that Towson Hot Bagels opened on 16 Allegheny Ave. “I ate my first Bacon, Egg and Cheese when I moved here,” she says. “It was really good! To this day, it’s one of my favorites.” The awesomeness of Towson Hot Bagels would go on to inspire her younger brothers to purchase the business from the owner years later.

Oriana joined her brothers and cousin as investors and co-owners because she saw it as a great opportunity, even though she was skeptical about owning a bagel company at first. “It has always been my goal to be involved in a family business,” she says, “and I am glad we went through with the project.” Today, that family business has six locations across Maryland with a Locust Point location on the horizon.

THB Bagelry & Deli wishes everyone a Happy International Women’s Day, especially to our women leaders of our kitchen crews and front-of-house teams.