Jordan Renouf says his “crazy bagel adventure” as the founder and owner of Boston’s popular pop-up bagel business, Brick Street Bagels, has “fed my soul in a way that no other work has.”
The Vermont native started his business about two years ago. And soon, Renouf will be feeding even more souls once he opens Brick Street Bagels’ first permanent storefront later this year.
“It’s really cool to have a permanent space with four walls that is fully ours that we’ll get to be creative in, and that we’ll get to host and welcome people into,” Renouf told MassLive. “We’re really, really excited.”
Brick Street Bagels officially announced on Instagram Feb. 24 that the business would setting up shop in South Boston.
The store will continue to offer Brick Street’s signature fresh bagels and spreads, but also serve open-faced sandwiches, coffee “and whatever else our whimsy leads us to,” the post reads.
The address for Brick Street Bagels’ storefront is 371 W Broadway and the shop will tentatively be open 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily.
Brick Streets Bagels’ storefront is located inside one of the oldest buildings in Boston, according to the Instagram post, so it comes at a hefty cost. Therefore, Renouf created a fundraiser to help cover the costs of several crucial renovations, including a new floor, plumbing and kitchen equipment.
“Your support will help us make these improvements and get us one step closer to opening our doors,” the campaign reads. “We can’t thank you enough for being part of this journey and can’t wait to share our new home with you.”
Renouf says the storefront opening “feels like the culmination of so much hard work” and that there has been “a lot of just sprinting for the past two years has led to this moment.”
“It feels really exciting,” he said. “I feel really proud of all the work that myself and the people who work with me have done because we’ve all worked really, really hard.”
Brick Street Bagels is gearing up to open its first-ever permanent storefront after operating as a pop-up business for roughly two years.Daniel Dimonda
Renouf grew up in a small town outside of Brattleboro, Vermont where he said being a member of a community was always “very important to me.”
He held onto that mentality when he moved from New York City to Boston with his fiancée after she got into a graduate program at Northeastern University. Renouf, who had been working in progressive politics for seven years, always had side hustles that he wanted to flesh out.
“What I have found is that making something tangible with my hands that you can feel, that you can touch, that you can hand to someone else has been really rewarding in a way that the other work that I’ve done in the past,” he explained.
One of these side hustles was bagel making, which Renouf explored more after he noticed a lack of bagel shops in the South End where he lives. Renouf started seriously making bagels in late 2022. He would often wake up at 2 a.m., roll dough for hours, bake the bagels in his apartment oven and then deliver them on his bicycle. The baker also posted photos of his creations on social media where his hobby “took on a life of its own.”
“People were, I think, really drawn to this sort of novel thing of ordering some bagels from me and then me showing up on my bike at their doorstep and delivering the bagels,” Renouf said, adding that his business primarily grew through word-of-mouth and social media.
“I just kind of saw it as a cool way to meet other people,” he said. “Whoever I would run into at a bar or in the park or on the street, I would tell them about Brick Street. So, yeah, it all just kind of happened organically.”
Renouf eventually got to a point where he was making bagels “at every minute of the day” that he wasn’t working his full-time job. That was when he shifted the business model to have people pick up their orders at either his South End apartment or at a pop-up location instead of Renouf making deliveries himself.
The pop-ups were all around Boston, with sample spots including Shy Bird and Gray’s Hall in South Boston as well as The Buttery in the South End, Little Donkey in Cambridge and DeLuca’s Market in Beacon Hill.
“At that point, we moved into a nearby restaurant kitchen where we were in there at like 2:30 in the morning,” Renouf said. “We’d make a bunch of bagels before their staff arrived and then we would take the bagels to a location where we’re doing a pop-up and people would be there waiting for us.”
Brick Street Bagels still uses this model. Customers sign up for a bagel “drop” online and then pick up their order at a designated spot within a selected timeframe.
However, once the storefront opens, Brick Street Bagels will offer counter service as opposed to the business’ current method. Renouf expects customers will still be able to place orders ahead of time at the permanent shop, as well. But longtime fans of Brick Street Bagels won’t have to sacrifice the nostalgia of picking up their bagels from Renouf’s apartment.
“Importantly, our South End operation isn’t going anywhere,” Brick Street Bagels wrote on Instagram and Renouf confirmed to MassLive. “This neighborhood is our first love and we are so grateful for the community and countless friends we’ve built over the past year here!”
If anything, Renouf is looking forward to welcoming his existing clientele to Brick Street Bagels’ new home as well as spreading more bagel love throughout Boston.
“Not only are we in this amazing position to open up in a neighborhood like South Boston, but we’re able to open up to this huge audience of people who already know and love us,” he said. “We know that on day one we’re going to have a lot of excited people waiting at the door. And we’re going to be really excited to welcome them in those doors.”
Brick Street Bagels is gearing up to open its first-ever permanent storefront after operating as a pop-up business for roughly two years.Daniel Dimonda
Renouf is still waiting on some final permits from the city before he can announce an official opening date for Brick Street Bagels’ storefront. If all goes well, he is hoping to open doors by late spring or early summer.
In the meantime, people can still contribute to Brick Street Bagel’s fundraiser. The campaign has a $100,000 goal, but Renouf is appreciative of any amount patrons give. Everyone who contributes to the campaign will get 120% back in store credit to use at the South End and Southie locations once it opens.
“ If you contribute a $100, you get $120 in store credit in exchange,” Renouf explained.
People can contribute to the fundraiser by clicking here.
