PopUp Bagels expanding in state, nationwide
As PopUp Bagels holds its own where the competition is toughest — New York City — the Westport-based chain is eyeing offering a catering service and as many as 100 new locations in the coming three years on the heels of getting more than $8 million in funding commitments last fall.
PopUp won two consecutive New York BagelFest crowns before ceding the title last year to fellow Connecticut purveyor Olmo Bagels. Olmo runs a traditional shop in New Haven; PopUp Bagels operates mainly on a model of online order and pickup, with a minimum of a dozen bagels per purchase.
For the first time on its home turf of Connecticut starting this week, the company is offering formal catering services after success on that front in Manhattan, where one corporate account maintains a standing order for 25 dozen bagels daily.
PopUp Bagels has Connecticut locations in Westport — where founder Adam Goldberg lives and runs the company — as well as in Greenwich and Redding.
In New York City, PopUp Bagels is located on Thompson Street a few blocks south of Washington Square Park, with another in the works for the Upper West Side. The company has additional locations in a seafood market in Wellesley, Mass., and a hotel in Palm Beach, Fla.
In Connecticut and New York, customers can walk in during store hours to purchase smaller numbers of bagels, though Popup does not sell bagels singly or sliced.
PopUp offers a rotating lineup of “schmear” spreads, holding a big reveal for the flavors of the week as the case with Crumbl Cookies for its cookie rotation. This week’s surprise schmears are butter chimichurri, and pink peppercorn and honey cream cheese. Smoked salmon, whitefish salad and trout role are also menu mainstays.
Goldberg told CT Insider on Tuesday that the company has plans for a huge expansion in the near future.
“We’re in hiring mode on all levels,” Goldberg said. “We’re excited to keep growing — we’re building our team and it feels like a lot happening very fast, very slowly.”
After “15 knocks on our door” — in Goldberg’s words — from investors interested in getting a stake, PopUp made the New York City private equity firm Stripes its lead investor for an $8 million funding round announced in October, and formally filed last week with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Stripes has a number of well known consumer companies in its portfolio, including Levain Bakery, which has expanded to mass retail sales of its cookies at Whole Foods Market and others.
PopUp has no immediate plans to create a supermarket label for its bagels or spreads, Goldberg said, but he did not rule that out for down the road. After a collaboration last month with Blue Moon Brewing, PopUp plans to add more partnerships with established consumer brands for spreads sold via its shops, he said. Next up is one with a famed hot sauce bottler, which Goldberg declined to name publicly before its launch later in January.
Goldberg said he has yet to hire or assign anyone the role of executive chef among more than 60 employees today, instead taking suggestions from customers and within his circle of acquaintances, some of whom are professional chefs themselves.
Goldberg said he is also weighing whether or not to offer franchising to fuel the PopUp expansion nationally.
“The only way we intend to franchise is if we keep the vibe of the business the same,” Goldberg said. “If it allows us to be in more markets sooner, then we’re all for it. We just don’t want to lose our quality and our passion for what it is, but we probably get 15 or 20 requests a week from people asking if we franchise.”