The taste of a longtime local landmark familiar to a generation of Jewish St. Louisans looks to be returning. A successor company to Pratzel’s Bakery is set to open soon under new management.

The well-known kosher institution, famous for its bagels, cakes and breads, will be brought back by local documentary filmmaker Jon Mills, Mills said last week.

“It will taste like the same old Pratzel’s but with a new person at the helm,” Mills said.

Mills, 40, of Clayton, said he has purchased the recipes as well as much of the equipment and assets of the defunct company for an undisclosed price after entering into discussions with previous owners Ronnie and Elaine Pratzel last month. He’s also bought rights to the name and trademarks, though a final moniker for the new entity has not been determined. Mills said it would likely incorporate the history of the Pratzel’s name in some form.

The bakery, a nearly 100-year-old family-owned enterprise, closed in late January, shuttering both its Olivette wholesale operation and its retail location at Simon Kohn’s Delicatessen on Old Olive Street. Ronnie Pratzel said at the time that he still hoped to find a buyer and that the facility had 16 months left on its lease. Demand was high in the bakery’s final days with long lines of customers flocking to Kohn’s to stock up on baked goods, even purchasing the monogrammed aprons off the cashiers.

Mills, a native of Boston who has lived in the St. Louis area for two decades, is not Jewish though he has strong ties to the Jewish community. Both his wife and father are Jewish and he attends services at Temple Israel. A longtime filmmaker who has done corporate work for companies such as BMW, U.S. Bank and H & R Block, his historical videos can even be viewed by patrons at the Gateway Arch while they wait for tram rides.

Mills has no formal baking experience though he enjoys the culinary arts and said he will keep Ronnie Pratzel on hand for a transitional period to mentor him in the business. He said the timing seemed right to make the move.

“I really enjoyed meeting them and they enjoyed meeting me,” Mills said of the Pratzels. “Then, after that, things fell into place and the opportunity presented itself and that’s where I’m at now.”

Mills said he plans to offer the full line of Pratzel’s products. The bakery will remain pareve kosher. The new owner said he’s still exploring the range of possibilities the operation might present but hasn’t decided on any major alterations.

“It’s an interesting situation insofar that as a new company I have all the challenges of a startup and yet, there’s a 98-year-old tradition in culture,” he said.

There will be at least one change to the business model. Retail sales to the general public will now take place out of the 7,200-square-foot wholesale facility off Dielman Road. Mills expects some remodeling will be necessary but does not foresee any problems.

“It sort of harkens back to the location in University City on Eastgate where there was a bakery out front,” he said, referring to the former Loop location of Pratzel’s. “For 48 years that’s how it operated.”

At the time of its closure, Ronnie Pratzel said the operation had about 200 wholesale clients with about a quarter of its business dependent on retail.

Pratzel’s old retail space at Kohn’s is now occupied by Breadsmith Artisan Bread, which recently converted its local operations to kosher.

Mills said he was in conversation with all of Pratzel’s former employees and hoped many could return.

He said he’s looked at various ventures over the years but felt with this one that he had a chance to preserve something special to the community.

“I’ve always been interested in St. Louis history and I’ve watched some of my favorite St. Louis icons, the Parkmoor, the Arena and other places disappear,” Mills said. “If it were just some other bakery or other business in the same position, I don’t think I would have had the same interest level.”

Ronnie Pratzel was optimistic about his successor’s plans.

“He’s a young guy who seems to have just the right touch of brains and spirit to pull this off so I wish him very well,” he said. “It makes us feel good to know that in some way, shape or form parts of this bakery will continue.”

Others feel good about it as well. Steve Hartman, creative director of Falk Harrison, a local branding communications company, said he was glad he and his co-workers could continue to enjoy products they’d come to love. He called it “a great St. Louis story.”

“We used to go up to Kohn’s mostly for cupcakes and bagels because our office is really close,” said Hartman whose company even offered a year of free social media services to anyone who would buy the bakery. “We’re thrilled to hear the news.”

Mills said an exact date for the opening has not been set but he is looking at a time after Passover, possibly May 1.