It’s the typical success story: the Managing Director of a deployable flood barrier company is forced to quarantine during a pandemic and then creates a bagel that takes the world by storm. The end.
“But wait,” you ask. “How does a flood barrier company prepare an executive for success in the boiled bread goods industry?”
The answer is: it doesn’t.
Let’s start from the beginning.
Adam Goldberg spent his days directing and dazzling global clientele with a flood mitigation company, AcquaFence. In his off-time he enjoyed cooking and entertaining family and friends. Then quarantine slammed down in Westport, leaving him high and dry save for management of his offspring and nights of Catan with his wife, photographer Jen Goldberg.
One day shortly thereafter, Boredom knocked on Adam’s door, tendering its request for a long, uninvited residence. Now the next part is pure conjecture, but I imagine Adam looked Boredom square in the eye and huskily swore, “Nice try, Boredom. Take a hike and - hey - leave that bag of high quality flour on the door step when you leave.”
Which is exactly what Boredom did.
Adam took that bag of high quality flour and mixed it with other excellent ingredients until he had perfected the recipe for a pudgy little bagel of such texture and deliciousness that all around were eager to partake. He opened a “Bagel Window” in his home from which friends could gather at certain times and collect bagels, offering Adam a modicum of socialization in his otherwise long days of self-isolation, save for his beloved wife and family.
Word of his bagels spread throughout the County. First friends. Then friends of friends. Soon his iPhone was blowing up at all hours with requests for his carb creations.
In November, Adam celebrated his birthday with a bagel fundraiser for Filling In the Blanks. The event raked in a lot of dough - around $1,000.
Which made Adam wonder something to the effect of, “Have I… (pause full of wonderment and awe) Have I created the rock star of all breadstuffs?”
Jen brought his bagels to Bill Taibe and his wife, Rachel, of Don Memo. “Yes!” Husband and wife declared. Adam moved his burgeoning bagel empire and Bagel Window from his home to Bill’s venerated kitchen. After all, dear reader, if a flood expert should make bagels then why shouldn’t a Mexican cantina produce them?
As logic would dictate, another Bagel Buying Day ensued, this time from Don Memo. They flew from the window with such celerity, Adam decided to design a website, PopUpBagels.com, in which bagel buffs could pre-purchase their beloved carbs.
He opened said site to sell 50 dozen bagels at 1:00 on a Thursday afternoon. By 1:02 they had sold out.
People drive for miles to claim this remarkable starch. One family requested he ship them to the site in which they were vacationing for five weeks. His iPhone bleats night and day from eager eaters. He now has 600 names on his waitlist.
“I’m honored,” he says of the madness.
It can’t be ignored that precious few, if any, in his Pop Up Bagel purview are limited in their procurement of whatever make, type, and quantity bagel they desire. So why Pop Ups? “I use high quality flour and a great mix of spices. My bagels are cooked to order but at a bagel shop they may have been sitting there for hours.”
Indeed, he wakes around 3:30 AM to begin. Several benevolent bleary-eyed friends arrive at 6:00 AM to knead, boil, and bake 144 on weekdays, 500+ on weekends - however many roundabout rolls the populace requires.
And what of the future?
There’s no slowing down for Adam “Best Bagel” Goldberg. He’ll expand locally at first, find commercial kitchens, hire talented and responsible high school kids to help. “There aren’t many high school jobs available,” he explains, knowingly.
But I imagine you’ve one last, lingering query: what flavors are available? Well, at differing times: Maldon salt bagel, salt and poppy, sesame, cinnamon raisin, everything, honey whole wheat. Adam’s favorite? The salt and poppy. And a 2020 bonus: “You don’t have to worry about seeds in your teeth because of Covid masks.”
Well, not every story has a fairy tale ending.
PopUpBagels.com