Belanger Bagels rolls into Eola General

The toasters at Eola General barely had a chance to get cold before the Eola Heights café announced a new partnership with Belanger Bagels, the start-up that launched its new College Park bagelry just days ago.

“Bagels sell great there and we’re going to continue with our bagel life,” says Eola General’s Shaun Noonan.

It’s a fast pivot for the general store, which severed its relationship with former tenant Swan City Bagels when a series of controversial Tweets by its owner, Racine Richman, came to light.

Super-fast.

As of Monday, June 8, Eolians will be able to taste Belanger’s Montreal-style goodies in the shop, regular bagels and bagel bites they’ll be using for dips and sliders. It’s a start, but the menu will continue to develop.

“We’re going to focus on unique shmears and sandwiches and become more deli-focused in the near future, so customers will be able to order cold cuts and salads, as well.”

Any sandwich on the current menu will be available for now, but Noonan sees a lot of exciting changes, including a custom Belanger bagel just for the shop.

“The same in every way, but just a little larger so it can be a solid foundation for sandwiches.”

Also on the Eola General roster: the addition of what Noonan calls “a hip, new Orlando-based bakery” that offers “what I think is the best sourdough in town.”

That will cover breakfast and lunch, he says.

For dinner, “we’re going to start focusing heavy on our Curate natural wines and are planning something fun, hopefully weekly, in the form of a dinner pop-up. We’ve had a lot of brands reach out already and it’s more than idea, it’s just a matter of finding the right people to plug in.”

Eric Belanger, who earlier this week told the Sentinel he was “more scared than excited” as his new business opened its doors is doubling down on the sentiment.

“Now I’m twice as scared!” he says, laughing. “It’s pretty crazy.”

The Montreal native will be delivering a little more than a hundred bagels to Eola General in the morning and is looking forward to some of the exciting things they discussed — including a fun bagel flight using his bagel bites.

“I always want to try everything in a bagel shop, but I can only eat one bagel,” says Noonan. “This will allow customers to try different bagels and shmears.”

Considering the multiple bagel sellouts Belanger has enjoyed in its early days as a brick-and-mortar, Eolians may prove as enthusiastic as the denizens of College Park.

Bagel King, which supplied the bagels for Swan City, will continue to do so moving forward, “making us the only shop in Orlando to offer both New York- and Montreal-style bagels.”

Noonan is feeling positive about the changes.

“We’re working on what we want this to be in the first place, and that is a launching pad that nurtures and incubates local brands like a general store should,” he says.

“Work relationships are like every other relationship,” he says of the Swan City debacle. “And when you don’t see eye to eye on certain important topics, it’s often best to go your separate ways.

“We want to mine the positivity out of every scenario,” says Noonan. “We did so with COVID and we’re going to do it with this, as well.