Alan Rosen

Alan Rosen (born 1969) is an American restaurant and bakery owner, and an author. He is the third-generation owner of Junior's Restaurants and Bakery, which is known for its cheesecakes. The company, founded with an initial restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, in 1950 by his grandfather, has six restaurants and outposts, a mail order business, a wholesale business, and a licensing operation.

Early and personal life Rosen was born and initially raised in New York City, and is Jewish. He later grew up in Great Neck, New York, and lived in the town of Harrison, New York, and is a member of Temple Emanu-El in Harrison. He now lives in Purchase, New York.

He attended the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, as the first in his family to go to college, graduating in 1991. Rosen is now on the Dean's Advisory Board of the school. In January 1998 he married Leslie Beth Finkelstein, and he and his now-ex-wife have three children. His grandfather, Harry, the Jewish son of immigrants from Ukraine and born on the Lower East Side, founded the original restaurant in November 1950. His father, Walter, started running it in the 1970s with Walter's brother Marvin. In 1997, The New York Times reported that critics had called it "the best cheesecake in the material world," and "edible ivory, like some new element on the atomic chart." After graduating from university, Rosen worked for three years at other restaurants and at nightclubs.

The company has six restaurants and outposts, a mail order business, a wholesale business, and a licensing operation. He was named to the Crain's New York "40 Under 40 Class of 2002" when Rosen was 32 years old.

In 2014, Rosen turned down a $45 million offer ($450-per-buildable-square-foot) from JDS Development Group to buy the two-story Brooklyn building of the flagship Juniors restaurant. He said his family's business was too important to him and to the community.

In 2020, he joined Romacorp's (Tony Roma's) board of directors.

In December 2021, Rosen said that a cream cheese shortage was badly hurting his business. He said it was a major ingredient in his cheesecake, and demand had increased 43% while at the same time there was a labor crisis at some dairy plants.

In August 2022, Rosen announced a partnership with candle company Literie on a strawberry cheesecake-scented candle. He said that "With this partnership ... our fans from all over can still be enticed by our famous scent – but without the calories!"

Civic activities In May 2021, Rosen sponsored a program that bought back guns in Brooklyn; the program yielded 69 weapons.

Rosen is on the board of the Fulton Mall Improvements Association as part of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. He describes himself as a fiscally conservative and socially liberal moderate Republican.

Author Rosen is the co-author of three books: Junior's Cheesecake Cookbook: 50 To-Die-For Recipes for New York-Style Cheesecake (Taunton Press, 2007), Junior's Dessert Cookbook: 75 Recipes for Cheesecakes, Pies, Cookies, Cakes and More (Taunton Press, 2011), and Junior's Home Cooking: Over 100 Recipes for Classic Comfort Food (Taunton Press, 2013).