Montreal or New York? Kelowna's newest bagel shop is not looking to put a label on things.
Instead, Bagel Boys is paving its own way as it bring Kelowna’s growing downtown core a new option for fresh and authentic food on the go.
“People are going crazy about having fresh bagels,” Kiley Yanay tells KelownaNow.
Yanay is the woman behind Bagel Boys' burgeoning Instagram page, a Jill of all trades for the new small business created by her husband Maayan Hecht and his business partner Darryl Chemel.
The store isn't open yet, but the Bagel Boys Instagram account already has over 2,500 followers as Kelowna residents showcase their desire for this kind of food option.
While you might expect a small business like this to stem from a history of working in bakeries or bagel shops, that’s not the case for Hecht and Chemel.
Both are Kelowna transplants who saw a need in the city for a better selection of eats for people on the go, or “quick food options that are still really good,” as Yanay explains.
“We’ve got some really good restaurants in town, but there’s not a lot of really good, fast and reasonably-priced food too,” she says.
Yanay added, with a laugh, that there are a lot of pizza spots, but they wanted to provide something else.
Chemel, originally from South Africa, moved to the Okanagan from Toronto and missed the bagel options he had available to him in the big city.
Bagels felt like the perfect fit for their business idea, so they set out to hire a bakery consultant to ensure they went about the process properly.
Enter Mark Hart, co-founder of Rise Baking Lab in Chilliwack, who helps entrepreneurs across North America open new bakeries or similar types of small businesses.
"He helped us through the whole process of coming up with a recipe and perfecting the recipe,” says Yanay, who notes that Hart was just in town to give their four bakers valuable in-person training.
The product of Hart’s teachings is a boil-and-honey style bagel recipe that you might expect to find in Montreal. However, the style of baking is more New York, producing bagels that are a little fluffier inside and great for sandwiches.
It’s the best of both worlds and the reason why they’re hesitant to use labels, instead choosing to establish their own Bagel Boys style.
Yanay says they’ve been in the kitchen “trying to perfect the recipe” and the feedback they’ve received through some secretive soft launches and on-the-street taste tastings has been superb.
That includes positive evaluations from self-proclaimed bagel experts who formerly lived in Montreal and were frequent customers at some of the city’s most famous bagel shops.
Bagel Boys will have New York deli-style sandwiches, including iconic lox and cream cheese, tuna, egg salad and a jam-egg option.
Of course, a simple bagel with cream cheese is also an option and they’ll have a mix of sweet and savory housemade spread options to choose from.
And it won't be just bagels on the menu, as they'll also sell pretzels courtesy of one of their baker's old family recipe for German-style pretzels.
Drink options include coffee, lattes and cappucinos, with the beans provided by popular local roaster Anarchy. Smoothies will be on the menu as well.
They'll also have matcha, sourced from Japan via Toronto, which they felt like was a necessity because it matches the theme and colour of their store.
As downtown Kelowna’s population continues its rapid growth, Yanay says Bagel Boys is excited to be a reliable and exciting option for those living in the area.
"We just wanted to cater to the people around here," she says, adding that they "want to be open at 7 am and catch people on their way to work."
According to Yanay, there aren’t many non-fast food options for early birds in Kelowna because a lot of the local coffee shops don’t open until 8 am or later, and that's a void Bagel Boys wants to fill.
They’re still finding their footing as a new small business, so the significant early interest in Bagel Boys has been as overwhelming as it is exciting for the team.
They plan on quietly opening up shop next week, but are urging people to exhibit patience in the early days as they iron out the kinks.
You can find Bagel Boys at 1481 St Paul St. in the Block building just off Bernard Avenue.
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