Everyone Kneads to Try PopUp Bagels

Students at Charlotte Catholic have been raving about PopUp Bagels, the new bagel place in the Ballantyne Bowl. Growing from an at-home bagel shop for friends and neighbors to a well-known restaurant and retail chain, PopUp Bagels has become the new obsession in Charlotte.

PopUp Bagels started during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 as a side project for Adam Goldberg, a popular restauranteur, to run out of his own kitchen in Westport, Connecticut. Goldberg’s bagels started as a neighborhood hit, leading him to set up popups in different locations around his hometown. At every location, his bagels would sell out in an instant.

Once Goldberg realized how successful his small business was becoming, he set up three shops in Connecticut and one in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Since November 2023, ten more shops have opened, primarily along the East Coast, including one in North Carolina, which just happens to be 15 minutes away from Charlotte Catholic. 

The PopUp Bagels location in Charlotte just had their grand opening on Friday, October 17. For the past week, the small bagel shop has been packed with people from opening at 7am to closing at 3pm. Juniors Anna Kennelly and Afton Williams went the day after the grand opening and had lots of positive things to say about it.

Anna and Afton both claim that PopUp Bagels is their new favorite bagel shop, with Bruegger’s Bagels as their second favorite place. Anna and Afton shared three bagels because PopUp Bagels’ requires that a customer must buy a minimum of three bagels, which comes with one tub of cream cheese. Anna and Afton got one plain, one salted, and one everything bagel. With this order they got one plain cream cheese.

PopUp Bagels exceeded Anna’s and Afton’s expectations, and they hope to go again soon. Afton said, “I really like bagels, so the fact that a new bagel place has opened up is the best news ever.”

The following week, Afton and Anna brought their friends to try out the new place. Juniors Taylor Petillo, Anne Gonyea, Madison Miller, and Tilley Hahn went with them and loved it. Anne Gonyea said she loves the area of Ballantyne it is in.

Though PopUp Bagels has only been around for five years and in Charlotte for less than a month, it has definitely become well known. From just starting out as a small at-home shop, it is for sure a success.

Credit: Charlotte Catholic High School