May 5, 2025 • 19 mins
Jeff Perera, founder of Jeff’s Bagel Run, joins Zack to share how a passion project turned into one of the fastest-growing bagel brands in the country. From baking fresh bagels all day long to building real connections with guests, Jeff explains how focusing on hospitality, simplicity, and genuine joy helped grow his business to 12 locations—and counting. Whether it’s innovating with pimento cream cheese or remembering loyal customers by name, Jeff shows why local energy and fresh experiences are at the heart of scaling a beloved brand.
Zack and Jeff discuss:
- Training teams to deliver genuine hospitality
- Keeping growth grounded in community connection
- Why freshness and consistency are non-negotiable
- Empowering staff to create memorable guest moments
- How small touches build big guest loyalty
- Tune in to hear how Jeff’s people-first approach is rewriting what it means to scale with soul.
Thanks, Jeff!
Links:
https://www.jeffsbagelrun.com/
https://www.instagram.com/jeffsbagelrun/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreyperera/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Give an Ovation, the restaurant guest
experience podcast.
I'm your host, zach Oates, andeach week I chat with industry
experts to uncover realstrategies and actionable
tactics to help you create afive-star guest experience.
This podcast is powered byOvation, the feedback and
operations platform built formulti-unit restaurants.
It gives you the insights youneed without annoying your
(00:21):
guests with endless questions.
Learn more at OvationUpcom.
And today I am so excited tohave Jeff from Jeff's Bagel Run.
Jeff started Jeff's Bagel Runactually after losing his job.
His wife wanted him to have ahobby and he started a bagel
shop.
And now, jeff, you're up to howmany locations?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
It's a love story, zach.
It's truly a love story.
We have 12 locations now wehave four out of state, so we
started in Orlando Florida, wehave eight here in Orlando
Florida and then four out ofstate.
We're opening our next number,13, opens later this month in
Charleston, south Carolina.
Super exciting.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Man.
That is amazing and I'm a hugefan.
And, by the way, for those whocan't tell or for those who
aren't familiar with thebackground noise, that means you
probably are on the wrongpodcast, because this is a
restaurant podcast and what youhear in the background is the
beautiful sound of restaurants.
Jeff is in a restaurant rightnow because he's launching one
(01:21):
of his specials.
Tell me about how this came tobe, this pimento cream cheese
idea.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Oh yeah, I love, I love this cream cheese.
It's so good.
So last year we were watchingjust kind of the cultural moment
that the Masters Dolphtournament was having and then
it spilled right into KentuckyDerby weekend and this like
springtime especially springtimein the south into Kentucky
Derby weekend and this, likespringtime especially springtime
in the South is all about goodfood, better weather, and we
(01:49):
were like we have to do thisnext year.
So we tested, we R&D all seasonlong trying to get the right
cream cheese.
I need pills of pimento creamcheese.
I have some.
We just did a whole activationthis morning and a photo shoot.
But like, check this out, Lookat these, how amazing is this
that looks amazing.
I mean pimento cream cheese is.
(02:09):
It's different.
It's got that whipped airinessthat like a nice whipped cream
cheese has.
So it's not as like runny anddippy as a typical pimento.
But this is really just comingfrom like living in the south
for a long time now as aNortheastern transplant, you
adopt things and things becomepart of kind of your own culture
.
And pimento cream cheese isjust like.
(02:30):
It's so good, it's spicy, it'scheesy, it's delicious.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well, I'm excited because I wish I were down there
to try it right now.
Well, I wish I was in Floridafor a bunch of reasons, but I
wish I was down there to try it,because the only time I get
pimento cheese up here in Utahis when Chick Fil A runs their
like pimento cheese sandwich.
Yeah, my dad grew up in Georgiaso he's a big pimento cheese
fan.
But the texture I can't do it.
So I wish I could be down thereto try that, because that
(02:56):
sounds exactly like what I wouldlike the flavor, but with a
cream cheese texture.
And I love that you're doingstuff like this.
I love that you're trying it,that you're adapting to the
local environment and reallytrying to create a unique guest
experience and so using like thepimento cheese as a case study,
because I just love that.
But talk to me about youroverall philosophy about guest
(03:20):
experience.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, so when we started, we sold from our home.
We were a cottage foodoperation and the guest
experience was truly one-on-one.
We're exchanging DMs andInstagram and Facebook.
We're making phone calls tomake sure we have orders right,
so it was very much a one-to-onetransaction that just lives in
the store.
Today we take the customer infront of us.
We make sure that thatexperience is hospitable.
(03:43):
We want to create not just good, and this is where I think it's
different.
There's good customer serviceand then there's hospitality.
They're two different things.
And so we try to live in a worldof hospitality and we filter
that through our three brandpromises.
We talk about these internally,we don't post them anywhere,
but it's bake fresh, bring joy,build community.
So everything we do in thestore is filtered through that
(04:06):
promise to ourselves, to ourcustomers.
And fake fresh, that's an easyone, right.
Everything is created fresh,scratch made products in-house
every day.
The bring joy component this isthe one where our teams get to
come to life with our customersin store.
And so, whether it's a can'tdecide between two cream cheeses
, hey, just have both.
Spill your coffee on the wayout.
(04:27):
Here's another one.
Just simple things, becausewhen you come into a bagel shop
it's really about happiness, andI mean, who doesn't love a good
bagel?
There should be no sadness in abagel shop whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And I think that when you look at, as I look at
bagels and I look at what we'regrowing up and what that meant
to me, especially growing up inNew Jersey, bagels were just
like a staple.
It was like Friday pizza andSaturday bagels.
It was just something that youdid and nowadays, especially
where I'm at here in Utah, it'shard to get that same experience
of, like your local bagel shopand out here there's chain bagel
places which are fine, buthaving that local bagel shop and
(05:05):
out here there's chain bagelplaces which are fine, but
having that local bagel shop andbeing able to maintain that as
you're growing to 12 locations.
How have you done?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
that.
So I think the key to bestaying local as you get bigger
is connecting with yourcommunity and our general
managers, our franchisees theyare invested in their
communities, they live in theircommunities.
They live in their communities,they work in their community,
obviously, and so their goal isto connect with people in their
community.
So customers that come inremember their name, remember
(05:33):
their order when they switchtheir order.
There's a guy that comes in andsay his nickname Even in his
mobile app.
Now he identifies himself asSalt Alex Because he heard us
calling that one time when hewalked in.
We're like Salt Alex because wehe heard us call him that one
time when he walked in.
We're like Salt Alex andbecause Salt puts his bagel
every single day, he ordered aSalt bagel.
That's what he got Every timehe walked in Salt bagel, salt
bagel, salt bagel and so now hewas like Salt Alex.
We'd see him walking up andit's like hey, salt Alex, and he
(05:55):
thought it was funny.
So that's how he evenidentifies himself and his
mobile orders now, and thatconnection with the people
becomes so valuable and I thinkthat's how you start to make
something big feel small.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
That is so important because I talked to my my CEO
coach showed me about when shewas living in Brooklyn.
There was a bagel shop, orsorry.
There was a coffee shop thatwas great and it was 30 seconds
closer to her apartment.
And in the opposite directionthere is a coffee shop that was
good, but it was 30 secondscloser to her apartment.
And in the opposite directionthere is a coffee shop that was
good, but it was 30 secondsfurther away from her apartment.
And she says, which one did Igo to?
(06:32):
And I'm like, well, obviouslythe one that was closer and
better.
And she goes.
I went to the one where theyknew my name and she would go to
the one.
It wasn't a bad coffee shop, itwas still good, but they would
say her name when she walked in.
And that's the differencebetween giving someone good
service is giving them the rightfood at the right time.
Hospitality is how you feelabout that, right?
(06:55):
I think Will Gadara might'vesaid something about that, and I
think that that's the wholeconcept and I love that you are
encouraging your staff to dothat as you're growing to 13
locations, because normally thatstops at location two when Jeff
stops coming into Jeff's BagelRun, right 100%.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
And as we train teams in new stores, whether it's
here in the Central Florida areaor out of state, we try to
infuse that level of energy.
We kind of joke like everyonecan be Jeff, every single person
can be me.
Now, you're not me, it'sobvious, right, but you can be
me.
You can do the same things thatI do or the same things that
(07:34):
Danielle does.
So, danielle, I have theprivilege of being her husband.
She's the reason the bagelexists.
I made it for her, so she's ourpartner in this business.
She runs all the operations and, like, we just built this brand
and this business on the ideaof taking care of people,
bringing joy to the life thatthey're in.
And if you just stick with that, regardless of what level of
(07:57):
like if you're a dishwasher, ifyou're a barista, if you're the
general manager, the franchiseowner, if you're me, it doesn't
matter how can I bring you joytoday?
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, I love that, because don't we all have that
little missing center sometimesthat we just need to fill it
with some joy, and pimento creamcheese is the case maybe.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, fill it with lots of pimento cream cheese.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
So what are some tactics as you're looking at
scaling your brand and scalingthis hospitality first approach?
What are some tactics you useto improve the guest experience?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
So I think the first thing that we do in every store
is train our teams really well.
It doesn't matter if we have apimento cream cheese limited
time offer.
If the team doesn't know whatit is, how it's made, why we're
doing it, what it's about, thenthey're unable to tell that
story to the guest.
So training your team, firstand foremost, and making sure
(08:50):
that they feel empowered toprovide that level of service
and hospitality to the guest, iswhat makes the biggest
difference.
That's the first thing we do.
All of our team members get asmuch training as they need
coaching, feedback in the moment, and that helps them feel good
about what they're doing selling, promoting and then it comes
(09:11):
out to the team.
So the second thing that we dois I mentioned it's kind of like
part of the first one weempower the team.
The team has to feel like theyhave ownership of the experience
that's happening right in frontof them.
So there should be no reasonfor them to say, no, we're a
bagel shop, right?
I mean bagels, cream cheese,coffee.
None of this is rocket science,it's all really simple.
It's hard work.
Making scratch dough every dayis hard work.
(09:32):
Working in a kitchen with two500 degree ovens is hot hard
work.
You know it's not easy work,but it's simple.
So if we just strip it down tothe most simple, like what can I
get you, how can I serve you?
It just takes everything away.
We give the team the power todo that.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
What are some of the weirdest things that team
members have told you thatguests have asked for?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
There's nothing really bizarre.
It's just like the fact thatpeople have the level of comfort
and feel like they can ask forit.
To me, I think that's like thepart that's bizarre, because I
think in so many places that yougo to today, you kind of think
like, oh man, I wish I shouldget a sandwich without pickles.
I don't want to ask, I don'twant to bother them, because the
team looks like foot off right.
Like if you walk up to thecounter you're like have a
special order.
You're like, oh, I can justpeel the pickles off myself, so
(10:15):
you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Like you walk up to that counter and you can tell
that the person there doesn'twant to be there oh yes, and you
worry because it's like okay,if I ask them for a special
order, are they going to spit inmy pickle, like I mean, what
are they going to do?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
like yeah I'm just coming in to try to get a bagel
and cream cheese or whatever Iwant.
I want my coffee.
I'm not trying to make yourlife or your day any more
difficult.
So I think, having that thisside approach of it and so
customers will ask for weirdthings.
They'll ask for extra pumps ofsyrup after we've already placed
the order and, like you know,try to get a couple extra pumps
of something.
Or they'll say, oh, I actuallywanted a splash of milk more,
(10:46):
like there's.
There's little tiny requests,but everything in like a bagel
shop is just so easy to executeon and take care of in that
guest needs right then and therethat we just do it.
I worked in retail for a longtime and I did some retail sales
and I did some other types ofsales and you always try to get
to yes, right, like.
The goal in sales is like, howdo we get to yes, how do we get
to yes?
So we just try to teach theteams ways to like get to this
(11:09):
yes for the customer.
There hasn't been any crazyrequests that are beyond our
well, that's not true.
We do get people ask us all thetime to toast bagels and we
don't have a toaster.
In our stores you bake freshall morning long, so it's like
hot comes out of the oven.
So you can't get a toastedbagel at Jeff's Bagel Run, so
that's the only thing I can't dofor you.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
So no way no toaster in a bagel shop which is pretty
standard old school bagel shopstyle.
Yeah, but I'm just saying thebagel shops that I go to.
I mean like everyone that I goto, like Jersey Boy Bagels,
morristown, new Jersey.
That's what I grew up on.
Every weekend going there I getmy Taylor ham and egg and
(11:45):
cheese and I get my cinnamonraisin and cream cheese.
But I would always get mycinnamon raisin bagel toasted
just so that it would like Iwanted it really to melt that
cream cheese down, but no forsure I love that.
You don't have it.
That's confidence of sayinglike we're that fresh.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
And I think that's exactly it, because fresh baked
bagels don't need to be toasted.
I can remember growing up inPoint Pleasant Beach, tom's
River, and then I spent some ofmy more formative years in South
Florida.
But like you'd go to a bagelshop and they'd have all the
bagels for the entire daysitting on the rack.
When did they get made?
At 2am, probably, yeah, yeah,100%, that's exactly right.
If you walked in at 9.30, thatbagel's already seven hours old
and it's starting to get hardand we need to toast it.
(12:28):
You need to bring it back tolife.
But we built a systeminternally that allows our
bagels to come out of the ovenall morning long.
I'm sitting right across frommy ovens right now in my shop
and there's fresh bagels in theoven.
We're recording this 1151.
So there's fresh bagels comingout at noon.
We close in two hours.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Jeff, come to Utah, we need you here.
I will keep you in business.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
That's exactly.
Oh my gosh, I literally want toget on a plane right now, jeff
and come down there to Jeff'sBagels.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
I mean, do part two of this podcast live?
It'd be so awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yes, I just want just nice, fluffy, warm.
Because, for example, there wasa place I lived in Dallas and
there was a grocery store rightdown the street from us.
And when do people bake bread?
Well, everyone knows that youwake up at some unholy hour and
you start baking bread in themorning, but the thing is we
(13:23):
don't live in the Middle Agesanymore.
People don't get bread firstthing in the morning.
That's not how it works.
When do you need bread?
When you eat bread as anAmerican family, you eat it with
dinner, right.
So what this grocery store didis they baked all of their bread
in the evenings and afternoons,and so every day I would come
(13:45):
home from work and I would swingby this grocery store and I
would get bread.
That was so hot, jeff, when Icut it at home.
Once I brought it home and Icut it, I had to use a towel to
hold the bread because it wasthat hot, right.
But I love that you're doingthings in how the guests would
like it, because when someonecomes in for lunch, they still
(14:07):
want a hot bagel.
I don't want a stale bagel whenI come in for lunch, and I love
that you're doing that, man,and I think that any listener
right now can take thisprinciple and look at their
guest experience and think howdo I bake bagels fresh out of
the oven two hours beforeclosing, metaphorically speaking
, because that is truly puttingthe guest first.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
And that's powerful, jeff.
I love that man.
Thank you.
Yeah, we think it's a bigdifferentiator in what we're
doing and we really believe init.
I mean, opening a restaurant'sa big investment.
To buy a $300 commercialtoaster wouldn't be like the
straw that broke the camel'sback.
But we believe in our productand we believe in the experience
it creates for the customer andfor our guests.
That it's more important.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
I got to break it to you though, jeff.
If you ever sell to PE, youknow the very first thing
they're doing is they're puttingtoasters in your stores so like
don't sell, don't sell out.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Hopefully we build a good enough business case that
they're like oh wow, look atthat, they're doing a run, a
great business without a toast.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Well, I'm going to say if you do sell, please sell
to someone that's cool, likesavory brand that lets like the
restaurants keep their soul.
So anyway, no doubt.
Well, Jeff, I know it's kind ofinteresting because you're not
new in the industry, but youdon't have like a 30 year
background in the industry.
So I'd love to hear this answerwho do you follow?
Who do you think deserves anovation in the restaurant
industry?
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Who do you learn from ?
That's a great question,because the one thing that I
have found in this, my shorttime being in the restaurant
industry, is that peopleactually want to help you.
It doesn't feel that way, butthey really do.
I think there's like we allhave tough skin because we work
long, hard hours, whether it'ssuper early in the morning or
super late at night.
We are gritty, we're workinghard, but there's kindness.
There is a real kindness withinthe restaurant industry and a
willingness to lift people upand support them.
(15:53):
And so the first person that Ilooked at and this is a very
local small business here in theOrlando area, but it's a
company called DG Donuts.
They have a single donut shopand they started very similarly
to how I did.
They were making donuts intheir own kitchen, selling at
farmer's markets, and theyopened a breaking mortar and
they grew their business andthey were incredibly helpful to
me in understanding how to getstarted.
(16:16):
And then, once I got started,there was an outpouring of
support from local restaurateurs, from people who ran bakeries
and taco stands or whatever itwas, to offer help and say, hey,
have you thought about this?
Or when you're approaching this?
And so I have this amazingcontact list in my phone of
local business owners that arejust really truly friends now,
(16:38):
who I can pick up the phone andanswer a question or just like
kind of vent sometimes, becausewhen you're starting something,
when you're an entrepreneur,when you're starting something,
when you're entrepreneur, whenyou're alone, you're very lonely
, you're alone, it's just youyeah danielle and I can bounce
ideas off each other, but likewe're just commiserating
together and so it's nicesometimes to call someone up and
say, hey, what would you do?
(16:59):
how did you get cogs in control?
Or hey, I had this customerexperience and it kind of went
sell, what would you do?
Having that a group of peopleto call and find that like
support network has beeninvaluable 100.
I love that man, so anyone inparticular that we should any
like social channels that weshould follow oh man, I
definitely think you should likeso locally here in the central
(17:21):
florida area you should shoutout dg donuts, amanda and dave
over there are.
And then my friends at HungerStreet Tacos Joe Creech and his
wife and brother own it and justphenomenal people Like, really
grounded in hospitality,grounded in serving their
community, and they've been justincredible supports to me.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Awesome.
I love that.
Well, Jeff, how do people findand follow you?
Speaker 2 (17:43):
and Jeff's Bagel Run.
So at Jeff'sagel Run,everywhere you name the platform
.
That's where we exist, that'show we show up, so please follow
us there.
Jeffspagelruncom is a greatresource.
You can also download ourmobile app.
We have a really awesome mobileapp available in the Google
Play Store also in the ApplePlay Store.
And do you ever post on social?
(18:04):
So I do post a little bitpersonally on my social.
Jeff Ferrera, you can find meon LinkedIn.
I'm a little bit more activepersonally on LinkedIn, but I
still run the social mediaaccount for Jeff's Bagel Run.
So if you DM there, I will hitit.
I have some help now.
I have some help.
I have a social media managerwho supports us, but I still run
the social.
That is awesome man.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Well, jeff, for giving pimento cheese the
facelift it needed.
Today's ovation goes to you.
Thank you for joining us onGive an.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Ovation, it was great .
Thanks for having me, zach.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Thanks for joining us today.
If you liked this episode,leave us a review on Apple
Podcasts or your favorite placeto listen.
We're all about feedback here.
Again, this episode wassponsored by Ovation, a
two-question, sms-basedactionable guest feedback
platform built for multi-unitrestaurants.
If you'd like to learn how wecan help you measure and create
a better guest experience, visitus at OvationUpcom.
Welcome to Give an Ovation, the restaurant guest
experience podcast.
I'm your host, zach Oates, andeach week I chat with industry
experts to uncover realstrategies and actionable
tactics to help you create afive-star guest experience.
This podcast is powered byOvation, the feedback and
operations platform built formulti-unit restaurants.
It gives you the insights youneed without annoying your
(00:21):
guests with endless questions.
Learn more at OvationUpcom.
And today I am so excited tohave Jeff from Jeff's Bagel Run.
Jeff started Jeff's Bagel Runactually after losing his job.
His wife wanted him to have ahobby and he started a bagel
shop.
And now, jeff, you're up to howmany locations?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
It's a love story, zach.
It's truly a love story.
We have 12 locations now wehave four out of state, so we
started in Orlando Florida, wehave eight here in Orlando
Florida and then four out ofstate.
We're opening our next number,13, opens later this month in
Charleston, south Carolina.
Super exciting.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Man.
That is amazing and I'm a hugefan.
And, by the way, for those whocan't tell or for those who
aren't familiar with thebackground noise, that means you
probably are on the wrongpodcast, because this is a
restaurant podcast and what youhear in the background is the
beautiful sound of restaurants.
Jeff is in a restaurant rightnow because he's launching one
(01:21):
of his specials.
Tell me about how this came tobe, this pimento cream cheese
idea.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Oh yeah, I love, I love this cream cheese.
It's so good.
So last year we were watchingjust kind of the cultural moment
that the Masters Dolphtournament was having and then
it spilled right into KentuckyDerby weekend and this like
springtime especially springtimein the south into Kentucky
Derby weekend and this, likespringtime especially springtime
in the South is all about goodfood, better weather, and we
(01:49):
were like we have to do thisnext year.
So we tested, we R&D all seasonlong trying to get the right
cream cheese.
I need pills of pimento creamcheese.
I have some.
We just did a whole activationthis morning and a photo shoot.
But like, check this out, Lookat these, how amazing is this
that looks amazing.
I mean pimento cream cheese is.
(02:09):
It's different.
It's got that whipped airinessthat like a nice whipped cream
cheese has.
So it's not as like runny anddippy as a typical pimento.
But this is really just comingfrom like living in the south
for a long time now as aNortheastern transplant, you
adopt things and things becomepart of kind of your own culture
.
And pimento cream cheese isjust like.
(02:30):
It's so good, it's spicy, it'scheesy, it's delicious.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well, I'm excited because I wish I were down there
to try it right now.
Well, I wish I was in Floridafor a bunch of reasons, but I
wish I was down there to try it,because the only time I get
pimento cheese up here in Utahis when Chick Fil A runs their
like pimento cheese sandwich.
Yeah, my dad grew up in Georgiaso he's a big pimento cheese
fan.
But the texture I can't do it.
So I wish I could be down thereto try that, because that
(02:56):
sounds exactly like what I wouldlike the flavor, but with a
cream cheese texture.
And I love that you're doingstuff like this.
I love that you're trying it,that you're adapting to the
local environment and reallytrying to create a unique guest
experience and so using like thepimento cheese as a case study,
because I just love that.
But talk to me about youroverall philosophy about guest
(03:20):
experience.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, so when we started, we sold from our home.
We were a cottage foodoperation and the guest
experience was truly one-on-one.
We're exchanging DMs andInstagram and Facebook.
We're making phone calls tomake sure we have orders right,
so it was very much a one-to-onetransaction that just lives in
the store.
Today we take the customer infront of us.
We make sure that thatexperience is hospitable.
(03:43):
We want to create not just good, and this is where I think it's
different.
There's good customer serviceand then there's hospitality.
They're two different things.
And so we try to live in a worldof hospitality and we filter
that through our three brandpromises.
We talk about these internally,we don't post them anywhere,
but it's bake fresh, bring joy,build community.
So everything we do in thestore is filtered through that
(04:06):
promise to ourselves, to ourcustomers.
And fake fresh, that's an easyone, right.
Everything is created fresh,scratch made products in-house
every day.
The bring joy component this isthe one where our teams get to
come to life with our customersin store.
And so, whether it's a can'tdecide between two cream cheeses
, hey, just have both.
Spill your coffee on the wayout.
(04:27):
Here's another one.
Just simple things, becausewhen you come into a bagel shop
it's really about happiness, andI mean, who doesn't love a good
bagel?
There should be no sadness in abagel shop whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And I think that when you look at, as I look at
bagels and I look at what we'regrowing up and what that meant
to me, especially growing up inNew Jersey, bagels were just
like a staple.
It was like Friday pizza andSaturday bagels.
It was just something that youdid and nowadays, especially
where I'm at here in Utah, it'shard to get that same experience
of, like your local bagel shopand out here there's chain bagel
places which are fine, buthaving that local bagel shop and
(05:05):
out here there's chain bagelplaces which are fine, but
having that local bagel shop andbeing able to maintain that as
you're growing to 12 locations.
How have you done?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
that.
So I think the key to bestaying local as you get bigger
is connecting with yourcommunity and our general
managers, our franchisees theyare invested in their
communities, they live in theircommunities.
They live in their communities,they work in their community,
obviously, and so their goal isto connect with people in their
community.
So customers that come inremember their name, remember
(05:33):
their order when they switchtheir order.
There's a guy that comes in andsay his nickname Even in his
mobile app.
Now he identifies himself asSalt Alex Because he heard us
calling that one time when hewalked in.
We're like Salt Alex because wehe heard us call him that one
time when he walked in.
We're like Salt Alex andbecause Salt puts his bagel
every single day, he ordered aSalt bagel.
That's what he got Every timehe walked in Salt bagel, salt
bagel, salt bagel and so now hewas like Salt Alex.
We'd see him walking up andit's like hey, salt Alex, and he
(05:55):
thought it was funny.
So that's how he evenidentifies himself and his
mobile orders now, and thatconnection with the people
becomes so valuable and I thinkthat's how you start to make
something big feel small.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
That is so important because I talked to my my CEO
coach showed me about when shewas living in Brooklyn.
There was a bagel shop, orsorry.
There was a coffee shop thatwas great and it was 30 seconds
closer to her apartment.
And in the opposite directionthere is a coffee shop that was
good, but it was 30 secondscloser to her apartment.
And in the opposite directionthere is a coffee shop that was
good, but it was 30 secondsfurther away from her apartment.
And she says, which one did Igo to?
(06:32):
And I'm like, well, obviouslythe one that was closer and
better.
And she goes.
I went to the one where theyknew my name and she would go to
the one.
It wasn't a bad coffee shop, itwas still good, but they would
say her name when she walked in.
And that's the differencebetween giving someone good
service is giving them the rightfood at the right time.
Hospitality is how you feelabout that, right?
(06:55):
I think Will Gadara might'vesaid something about that, and I
think that that's the wholeconcept and I love that you are
encouraging your staff to dothat as you're growing to 13
locations, because normally thatstops at location two when Jeff
stops coming into Jeff's BagelRun, right 100%.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
And as we train teams in new stores, whether it's
here in the Central Florida areaor out of state, we try to
infuse that level of energy.
We kind of joke like everyonecan be Jeff, every single person
can be me.
Now, you're not me, it'sobvious, right, but you can be
me.
You can do the same things thatI do or the same things that
(07:34):
Danielle does.
So, danielle, I have theprivilege of being her husband.
She's the reason the bagelexists.
I made it for her, so she's ourpartner in this business.
She runs all the operations and, like, we just built this brand
and this business on the ideaof taking care of people,
bringing joy to the life thatthey're in.
And if you just stick with that, regardless of what level of
(07:57):
like if you're a dishwasher, ifyou're a barista, if you're the
general manager, the franchiseowner, if you're me, it doesn't
matter how can I bring you joytoday?
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, I love that, because don't we all have that
little missing center sometimesthat we just need to fill it
with some joy, and pimento creamcheese is the case maybe.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, fill it with lots of pimento cream cheese.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
So what are some tactics as you're looking at
scaling your brand and scalingthis hospitality first approach?
What are some tactics you useto improve the guest experience?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
So I think the first thing that we do in every store
is train our teams really well.
It doesn't matter if we have apimento cream cheese limited
time offer.
If the team doesn't know whatit is, how it's made, why we're
doing it, what it's about, thenthey're unable to tell that
story to the guest.
So training your team, firstand foremost, and making sure
(08:50):
that they feel empowered toprovide that level of service
and hospitality to the guest, iswhat makes the biggest
difference.
That's the first thing we do.
All of our team members get asmuch training as they need
coaching, feedback in the moment, and that helps them feel good
about what they're doing selling, promoting and then it comes
(09:11):
out to the team.
So the second thing that we dois I mentioned it's kind of like
part of the first one weempower the team.
The team has to feel like theyhave ownership of the experience
that's happening right in frontof them.
So there should be no reasonfor them to say, no, we're a
bagel shop, right?
I mean bagels, cream cheese,coffee.
None of this is rocket science,it's all really simple.
It's hard work.
Making scratch dough every dayis hard work.
(09:32):
Working in a kitchen with two500 degree ovens is hot hard
work.
You know it's not easy work,but it's simple.
So if we just strip it down tothe most simple, like what can I
get you, how can I serve you?
It just takes everything away.
We give the team the power todo that.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
What are some of the weirdest things that team
members have told you thatguests have asked for?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
There's nothing really bizarre.
It's just like the fact thatpeople have the level of comfort
and feel like they can ask forit.
To me, I think that's like thepart that's bizarre, because I
think in so many places that yougo to today, you kind of think
like, oh man, I wish I shouldget a sandwich without pickles.
I don't want to ask, I don'twant to bother them, because the
team looks like foot off right.
Like if you walk up to thecounter you're like have a
special order.
You're like, oh, I can justpeel the pickles off myself, so
(10:15):
you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Like you walk up to that counter and you can tell
that the person there doesn'twant to be there oh yes, and you
worry because it's like okay,if I ask them for a special
order, are they going to spit inmy pickle, like I mean, what
are they going to do?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
like yeah I'm just coming in to try to get a bagel
and cream cheese or whatever Iwant.
I want my coffee.
I'm not trying to make yourlife or your day any more
difficult.
So I think, having that thisside approach of it and so
customers will ask for weirdthings.
They'll ask for extra pumps ofsyrup after we've already placed
the order and, like you know,try to get a couple extra pumps
of something.
Or they'll say, oh, I actuallywanted a splash of milk more,
(10:46):
like there's.
There's little tiny requests,but everything in like a bagel
shop is just so easy to executeon and take care of in that
guest needs right then and therethat we just do it.
I worked in retail for a longtime and I did some retail sales
and I did some other types ofsales and you always try to get
to yes, right, like.
The goal in sales is like, howdo we get to yes, how do we get
to yes?
So we just try to teach theteams ways to like get to this
(11:09):
yes for the customer.
There hasn't been any crazyrequests that are beyond our
well, that's not true.
We do get people ask us all thetime to toast bagels and we
don't have a toaster.
In our stores you bake freshall morning long, so it's like
hot comes out of the oven.
So you can't get a toastedbagel at Jeff's Bagel Run, so
that's the only thing I can't dofor you.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
So no way no toaster in a bagel shop which is pretty
standard old school bagel shopstyle.
Yeah, but I'm just saying thebagel shops that I go to.
I mean like everyone that I goto, like Jersey Boy Bagels,
morristown, new Jersey.
That's what I grew up on.
Every weekend going there I getmy Taylor ham and egg and
(11:45):
cheese and I get my cinnamonraisin and cream cheese.
But I would always get mycinnamon raisin bagel toasted
just so that it would like Iwanted it really to melt that
cream cheese down, but no forsure I love that.
You don't have it.
That's confidence of sayinglike we're that fresh.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
And I think that's exactly it, because fresh baked
bagels don't need to be toasted.
I can remember growing up inPoint Pleasant Beach, tom's
River, and then I spent some ofmy more formative years in South
Florida.
But like you'd go to a bagelshop and they'd have all the
bagels for the entire daysitting on the rack.
When did they get made?
At 2am, probably, yeah, yeah,100%, that's exactly right.
If you walked in at 9.30, thatbagel's already seven hours old
and it's starting to get hardand we need to toast it.
(12:28):
You need to bring it back tolife.
But we built a systeminternally that allows our
bagels to come out of the ovenall morning long.
I'm sitting right across frommy ovens right now in my shop
and there's fresh bagels in theoven.
We're recording this 1151.
So there's fresh bagels comingout at noon.
We close in two hours.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Jeff, come to Utah, we need you here.
I will keep you in business.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
That's exactly.
Oh my gosh, I literally want toget on a plane right now, jeff
and come down there to Jeff'sBagels.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
I mean, do part two of this podcast live?
It'd be so awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yes, I just want just nice, fluffy, warm.
Because, for example, there wasa place I lived in Dallas and
there was a grocery store rightdown the street from us.
And when do people bake bread?
Well, everyone knows that youwake up at some unholy hour and
you start baking bread in themorning, but the thing is we
(13:23):
don't live in the Middle Agesanymore.
People don't get bread firstthing in the morning.
That's not how it works.
When do you need bread?
When you eat bread as anAmerican family, you eat it with
dinner, right.
So what this grocery store didis they baked all of their bread
in the evenings and afternoons,and so every day I would come
(13:45):
home from work and I would swingby this grocery store and I
would get bread.
That was so hot, jeff, when Icut it at home.
Once I brought it home and Icut it, I had to use a towel to
hold the bread because it wasthat hot, right.
But I love that you're doingthings in how the guests would
like it, because when someonecomes in for lunch, they still
(14:07):
want a hot bagel.
I don't want a stale bagel whenI come in for lunch, and I love
that you're doing that, man,and I think that any listener
right now can take thisprinciple and look at their
guest experience and think howdo I bake bagels fresh out of
the oven two hours beforeclosing, metaphorically speaking
, because that is truly puttingthe guest first.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
And that's powerful, jeff.
I love that man.
Thank you.
Yeah, we think it's a bigdifferentiator in what we're
doing and we really believe init.
I mean, opening a restaurant'sa big investment.
To buy a $300 commercialtoaster wouldn't be like the
straw that broke the camel'sback.
But we believe in our productand we believe in the experience
it creates for the customer andfor our guests.
That it's more important.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
I got to break it to you though, jeff.
If you ever sell to PE, youknow the very first thing
they're doing is they're puttingtoasters in your stores so like
don't sell, don't sell out.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Hopefully we build a good enough business case that
they're like oh wow, look atthat, they're doing a run, a
great business without a toast.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Well, I'm going to say if you do sell, please sell
to someone that's cool, likesavory brand that lets like the
restaurants keep their soul.
So anyway, no doubt.
Well, Jeff, I know it's kind ofinteresting because you're not
new in the industry, but youdon't have like a 30 year
background in the industry.
So I'd love to hear this answerwho do you follow?
Who do you think deserves anovation in the restaurant
industry?
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Who do you learn from ?
That's a great question,because the one thing that I
have found in this, my shorttime being in the restaurant
industry, is that peopleactually want to help you.
It doesn't feel that way, butthey really do.
I think there's like we allhave tough skin because we work
long, hard hours, whether it'ssuper early in the morning or
super late at night.
We are gritty, we're workinghard, but there's kindness.
There is a real kindness withinthe restaurant industry and a
willingness to lift people upand support them.
(15:53):
And so the first person that Ilooked at and this is a very
local small business here in theOrlando area, but it's a
company called DG Donuts.
They have a single donut shopand they started very similarly
to how I did.
They were making donuts intheir own kitchen, selling at
farmer's markets, and theyopened a breaking mortar and
they grew their business andthey were incredibly helpful to
me in understanding how to getstarted.
(16:16):
And then, once I got started,there was an outpouring of
support from local restaurateurs, from people who ran bakeries
and taco stands or whatever itwas, to offer help and say, hey,
have you thought about this?
Or when you're approaching this?
And so I have this amazingcontact list in my phone of
local business owners that arejust really truly friends now,
(16:38):
who I can pick up the phone andanswer a question or just like
kind of vent sometimes, becausewhen you're starting something,
when you're an entrepreneur,when you're starting something,
when you're entrepreneur, whenyou're alone, you're very lonely
, you're alone, it's just youyeah danielle and I can bounce
ideas off each other, but likewe're just commiserating
together and so it's nicesometimes to call someone up and
say, hey, what would you do?
(16:59):
how did you get cogs in control?
Or hey, I had this customerexperience and it kind of went
sell, what would you do?
Having that a group of peopleto call and find that like
support network has beeninvaluable 100.
I love that man, so anyone inparticular that we should any
like social channels that weshould follow oh man, I
definitely think you should likeso locally here in the central
(17:21):
florida area you should shoutout dg donuts, amanda and dave
over there are.
And then my friends at HungerStreet Tacos Joe Creech and his
wife and brother own it and justphenomenal people Like, really
grounded in hospitality,grounded in serving their
community, and they've been justincredible supports to me.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Awesome.
I love that.
Well, Jeff, how do people findand follow you?
Speaker 2 (17:43):
and Jeff's Bagel Run.
So at Jeff'sagel Run,everywhere you name the platform
.
That's where we exist, that'show we show up, so please follow
us there.
Jeffspagelruncom is a greatresource.
You can also download ourmobile app.
We have a really awesome mobileapp available in the Google
Play Store also in the ApplePlay Store.
And do you ever post on social?
(18:04):
So I do post a little bitpersonally on my social.
Jeff Ferrera, you can find meon LinkedIn.
I'm a little bit more activepersonally on LinkedIn, but I
still run the social mediaaccount for Jeff's Bagel Run.
So if you DM there, I will hitit.
I have some help now.
I have some help.
I have a social media managerwho supports us, but I still run
the social.
That is awesome man.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Well, jeff, for giving pimento cheese the
facelift it needed.
Today's ovation goes to you.
Thank you for joining us onGive an.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Ovation, it was great .
Thanks for having me, zach.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Thanks for joining us today.
If you liked this episode,leave us a review on Apple
Podcasts or your favorite placeto listen.
We're all about feedback here.
Again, this episode wassponsored by Ovation, a
two-question, sms-basedactionable guest feedback
platform built for multi-unitrestaurants.
If you'd like to learn how wecan help you measure and create
a better guest experience, visitus at OvationUpcom.
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