Joan Kanner (l) and Michelle Bond (r), co-founders of Bottoms Up Bagels
Sometimes you just see a need and feel compelled to fill it. After working together in the corporate world and being underwhelmed by the quality of their box lunches, Joan Kanner and Michelle Bond decided to bring the great bagels of their native New Jersey to Baltimore.
Starting with pop-ups and market bakes in 2015, by 2020 they opened Bottoms Up Bagels on Greenmount Avenue. Now they are taking their bagel show on the road, after two very successful pop-up roadshows in Bozeman, Montana and Cohoes, NY.
Joan, talking shop in the wilds of Utah.
I talked to Joan as she dialed in from the hoodoos in Utah. She figured there was nothing better than shop talk after a hike, but I think she was actually scoping out a potential roadshow location.
Once we got on the mics, Joan and I discussed how great bagels aren't just for New York and Montreal, how Bottoms Up Bagels is willing to take on every form of distribution and what it takes to make a splash with their Bagel Roadshows across the USA. They are doing up their roadshows in a big way and we talked about a slew of ideas that you can borrow for your bakery, even if you stay in town.