How Hey Bagel Turned Seattle’s Most Viral Bagel

It’s mid-September and Andrew Rubinstein is sweating his means by a solo bake in a Redmond commissary kitchen. He’s nervous that he’s miscounted what number of salt bagels he wanted for one among his last Hey Bagel pop-ups.

“If you’re doing issues to order, it’s at all times perilous in case you’re not paying consideration,” he says, tossing either side of his boiled bagels in every part seasoning. “In the event you’re listening to your tunes or engrossed in your podcast or no matter, you’ll be able to fuck up the numbers.”

The bagels in entrance of him are the perfect within the metropolis. Crackly and crispy on the surface, fluffy and buoyant on the within. They’re near what Rubinstein describes as his very best bagel: “That blistery crust, the chew, a pleasant top and construction… I put malt syrup in mine to assist get the browning but additionally add some sweetness to the floor.”

Few individuals get to construct a profitable bagel enterprise from scratch. Even fewer can declare to have finished it twice. Rubinstein did it first with Rubinstein Bagels, which he walked away from. Now he’s finished it with Hey Bagel. Clients have been lining up on the College Village store for the reason that second it opened its doorways on Monday, January 6, and the hype has solely elevated by word-of-mouth and a focus from the likes of J. Kenji López-Alt. His bagels have cemented themselves a must have merchandise.

Rubinstein’s depth has paid off, in different phrases. He’s an entrepreneur, however relating to bagels, he has an inventive temperament.

“It’s like working with clay,” says Rubinstein. “It’s like pulling it out of the kiln. Is it this magic second? Is it doing what you wished it to do? And if it isn’t, is it one thing you’ll be able to manipulate?”

Suzi Pratt

Rubinstein grew up outdoors Milwaukee in an upper-middle-class Reform Jewish house. His father was obsessive about discovering the right croissant. (“He by no means discovered it however was at all times looking.”) His mom was a painter who typically baked. Greater than something, he remembers feeling a way of craft that was deeply embedded in his household’s ethos — to raise and transcend the fundamentals to make one thing particular.

Whereas a few of his siblings had been drawn to the culinary world, Andrew felt the pull of the paintbrush. After attending UW-Madison for undergraduate faculty, he enrolled on the Artwork Institute of Chicago. After faculty, Rubinstein made a go of it as a painter and artist. He participated in “Cows on Parade,” an artwork set up that featured over 300 life-size fiberglass cows throughout Chicago. (He wound up promoting his cow to NFL broadcaster John Madden.) In 2001, he and his spouse moved to Seattle the place he labored “unfulfilling” gross sales and advertising and marketing roles by day and painted by night time. Ultimately, his creative dedication paid off.

“I had a gallery representing me,” he says. “I had a solo present. I had a pair group exhibits. My solo present nearly bought out. It was nice.”

If cash had been no object, Rubinstein would nonetheless be a painter. “I paint in my mind each night time,” he says. “I’m at all times occupied with it.”

However his success didn’t translate into monetary stability, and in 2016 he bought fired from a gross sales job that he says he didn’t wish to do. Rubinstein started seeking to harness his inventive power in a means that might be worthwhile in addition to fulfilling. Intrigued by the cupcake, cookie, and burger booms of the early aughts, he thought in regards to the subsequent large meals development.

“I had a bagel from any individual and I believed on the time, ‘This can be a fairly neat bagel. No person’s making bagels. I don’t wish to hold working for anyone else,’” he says. “I began hatching these concepts of the bagel factor. I actually wished to enter one thing that was food-related, however I didn’t wish to personal a restaurant.”

The timing felt proper for a nationwide bagel wave. “All people bought sick of Einstein and bought sick of being fed shitty high quality issues,” he says. Seattle particularly gave the impression to be a bagel desert.

“I feel there are people who find themselves doing a little okay issues,” however “I’m tremendous underwhelmed by the bagels,” he advised the Seattle Occasions in 2019.

Rubinstein began baking, bringing the identical ardour he beforehand saved for portray to the world of historically Polish Jewish bread rolls. “It was like a fetish,” he says. “I watched YouTube movies and I used to be like, ‘I wish to do this that means and I wish to do this that means.’”

It’s straightforward to govern somebody’s appreciation of a bagel by slathering them in pungent cream cheese or utilizing them to make piled-high sandwiches. Rubinstein wished individuals to understand his bagels qua bagels.

The purpose was the right bagel, however the purpose was additionally gross sales. “Individuals may praise me on a regular basis, however once you purchase my portray, you’re sacrificing one thing of your self to make the final word praise,” he says. “You’re shopping for my work and also you’re placing it on the wall. That’s a terrific, enormous praise.”

An introduction to Seattle restaurateur Ethan Stowell ultimately led to the creation of Rubinstein Bagels, which opened its first location in South Lake Union in 2020. However Rubinstein discovered that with an precise enterprise got here a steep studying curve.

“I don’t assume individuals would describe me as comfortable,” he says of these early days studying tips on how to be a supervisor. “I put quite a lot of strain on each bagel that went out and each interplay.”

Rubinstein opened new areas in Capitol Hill in 2021 and Redmond in 2022, however had blended emotions in regards to the growth. “Being an artist, you’re an iconoclast. A hole-poker. Preventing the person,” he says. “In a single day, I grew to become the person. I wasn’t CEO materials for a store that [had] three or 4 spots.”

Two former staff of Rubinstein Bagels who wished to stay nameless spoke extremely of him as a supervisor whereas citing his “perfectionist” nature. Each mentioned that whereas their interactions with him had been constructive, they had been conscious that different staff had butted heads with him over disagreements with workers that had been interpreted as “aggressive” and “insensitive.”

“I used to be fairly intense the final time round,” Rubinstein says, declining to get extra particular about these incidents. “Typically we struggled, and I tend to put on my moods on my face. Hopefully, I’ve realized to vary that factor a bit of bit higher.”

As issues mounted at his retailer, his youngest daughter began coping with vital well being points, which took a serious toll on him and his household. With frustrations mounting at work and household considerations pulling his consideration, one thing needed to give.

So when Ethan Stowell Eating places got here to him with a buyout provide in early 2023, he took it. Rubinstein is publicly grateful for Stowell’s partnership and assist in getting the enterprise off the bottom. Nonetheless, it’s laborious to not discover when he discusses his former enterprise that he refrains from utilizing its identify, referring to it as “my outdated place” and “my final firm.” He additionally has considerations about latest criticism of his namesake’s high quality since he left. “Nothing bothers me greater than listening to individuals say the standard of the bagels is medium or poor,” he says.

Rubinstein filed a lawsuit final September over $100,000 owed as a part of his separation association with ESR; the matter was rapidly settled. Ethan Stowell Eating places didn’t reply to a request for remark.

The separation settlement didn’t embody a noncompete clause, opening the door for Rubinstein to remain within the bagel sport. And whereas he didn’t need any a part of a multilocation enterprise, the inventive juices began flowing nearly as quickly as he was again on his personal. He was again to baking.

Suzi Pratt

Whereas Rubinstein Bagels’ bagels centered on amount (when it comes to flavors and general manufacturing) to appease dozens of sandwich combos, Hey Bagel’s variations had been “objects of themselves,” as Rubinstein says.

It grew to become obvious from the second that Hey Bagel appeared on Instagram in 2023 that his golden brown and blistery bagels had been the edible artistic endeavors he had been striving towards. Early pop-ups bought out in hours. Bagel drops in Eastside parking garages felt like illicit experiences. Pre-orders bought out in minutes.

The Seattle bagel scene had boomed within the time since Rubinstein first got here on the scene, however there wasn’t something just like the bready spheres Hey Bagel was producing. And the town nonetheless lacked a spot the place scorching and recent bagels had been a given at any time of the day.

Rubinstein is enamored by Roan Hartzog’s common Mt. Bagel and its restricted menu. (“Roan is brave sufficient to not make a sandwich place.”) He’s a giant fan of Pop Up Bagel, the fashionable East Coast chain that has popularized the “tear-and-share” order. He’s additionally observed that many Seattle bagel outlets routinely promote out early, closing their doorways by the early afternoon.

From these influences, you get Hey Bagel’s new store in College Village. No sandwiches. No toasting. Bagels and schmears solely, with schmears in separate tubs (prospects are inspired to “rip and dip”). And irrespective of the time of day, to the perfect of the group’s skill, scorching bagels are served proper out of the oven.

Rubinstein wasn’t certain all this could work. He nervous about whether or not or not individuals would take to the “tear-and-share” methodology. He nervous that too many shoppers would need their bagels toasted. He considered harried mother and father coping with youngsters who simply need what they need no matter his well-laid plans. He contemplated what enterprise would appear to be at 5 p.m. on a Tuesday, not precisely prime bagel-buying hours. He veered between confidence and a shocking quantity of doubt.

“I might be like, ‘Oh, wait until they get a load of me. However what if not? What if no person… what if that is incorrect? What if this course of sucks?” he mentioned earlier than opening.

Suzi Pratt

Initially set to open in early November, Hey Bagel’s debut bought pushed again to the week of Thanksgiving, which gave option to the primary week of December. A problem with a gasoline line pushed issues again even additional to late December. Ultimately, January 6 was chosen because the opening date. In all that point, Rubinstein was laborious at work finalizing his menu, coaching his workers, coping with logistical points, and fretting over what else would possibly come up. He’s leaning on “rock star” normal supervisor TJ Watson to shoulder that load and taking the teachings from his final place to have extra grace along with his employees.

“We nonetheless must study our dance steps,” he mentioned a number of weeks earlier than opening. “How are we gonna dance collectively?”

On the primary day, at the least, he acquired nothing however constructive reinforcement. A line of hungry prospects fashioned earlier than the doorways opened. The primary individuals to reach had pushed 45 minutes simply to be there. Everybody appeared thrilled with the piping scorching bagels and flavorful cream cheese choices (spicy scallion, chile crisp, and complete lox seemed to be the clubhouse leaders). Greatest-laid plans to supply a bialy fell by, however a blueberry bagel held its personal as a fast substitute.

Shortly after the doorways opened and the primary prospects shuffled in, Rubinstein referred to as out, “Morning, everybody.” Like an obedient classroom, everybody responded, “Good morning!” At that second, there have been no worries or considerations. If this had been an artwork gallery, each patron could be in full appreciation mode.

Even Rubinstein appeared thrilled.

“I’m good,” he says, all smiles. “I want I had my cream cheese case all dialed in a bit of bit higher… yesterday I used to be freaking out, however at this time I really feel fairly good. I can solely put together, put together, and put together.”