In Oakland and Berkeley’s Telegraph Avenue is an artery of small business for almost the entire length of the street. Yet, there are still patches in the middle where entrepreneurs see opportunities to enter an untapped market. In these middle areas many entrepreneurs offer a niche variation of a product that reflects creativity and combines the demands of traditional customers with those seeking something slightly different. Such is the story of Beauty’s Bagel Shop.

 

Amy and Blake Joffe opened Beauty’s Bagel Shop In August 2012 and have not looked back. Customers flock to consume the 7,000 Montreal-style bagels that Beauty’s Bagel Shop cooks each week. Boiled in honey-sweetened water before being baked in a wood-fired oven, Montreal bagels retain a dense and chewy texture just as the shop has retained and grown its customer base.  In addition to positive customer reviews, they have a few food critics’ awards as well.

 

Blake explains, “My dad grew up in Montreal, so Montreal-style bagels were a big part of my life growing up. My dad’s love for these bagels inspired us to want to start Beauty’s Bagel Shop.”  Amy and Blake took their experience and a lack of good bagel shops in the area as an opportunity to provide the market what it wanted: unique bagels made from quality ingredients.

 

“Main Street Launch’s $150,000 loan helped us acquire the equipment, remodel the place and really just break in the market and open shop on day one,” says Blake from the kitchen surrounded by the aroma of fresh baked bagels. Less than five years since it opened, the business now employs 25 people and is considering expanding in downtown Oakland.  In addition to their great menu, Beauty’s Bagel Shop serves in parts as a bagel shop, restaurant, caterer, wholesaler, and coffee shop. It is a community-focused business: they offer fair pay to their employees, quality ingredients to their customers, and donate regularly to schools in Oakland and the Alameda County Food bank.

 

Visit them at 3838 Telegraph Avenue or http://www.beautysbagelshop.com/!