It is happening y'all!! For the past three years, we have been passionately delivering our delicious bagels throughout Charlotte. Now! We are thrilled to announce the opening of our very own Bagel Shop, BagelGram NC Headquarters! The new storefront location is at 7878 Idlewild Rd, Suite A, in Indian Trail, NC, just 2 miles off 485. Our move from Florida four years ago was driven by our goal to open a Bagel Shop in the community we call home. Our determination has paid off as we are now in the process of realizing our dream. We are working tirelessly to open the store by the end of summer and look forward to becoming a part of this amazing town that has welcomed us since the start of our delivery service. We searched high and low within each of our delivery zones around Charlotte for the perfect storefront, but most locations were either too expensive or too far from home. We prayed for a space that was just the right size, turn-key, and fairly priced, and we were fortunate to find this beautiful location that was previously a BBQ restaurant. The space is empty except for a large countertop and ventilation system, which provides a clean slate for us to build upon. Although we still have much to fit and decorate, we are ready to take on the challenge. It would be an honor if you would join us on our journey by contributing to our campaign. BagelGram NC Headquarters With the opening of our new shop, we'll be able to enhance our services in several ways: On the in-house delivery side, we'll be able to: Deliver BagelGrams earlier in the morning Expand our menu options for delivery, such as coffee, muffins, and flavored cream cheese Offer more catering options, including platters, salads, sandwiches, coffee, drinks, and sweets Provide multiple deliveries to all zones throughout the month On the storefront side, we'll be able to: Offer breakfast and lunch sandwiches Enable early morning pickup times Provide flavored cream cheese Offer locally roasted coffee, including cold brew, nitro brew, and drip coffee Provide a comfortable meeting space for the local community Give us more space to experiment and create new pastries, sweets, and baked goods Offer catering platters Offer multiple delivery options, such as BagelGram in-house delivery, UberEats, Grubhub, and Doordash Offer ordering via an app and provide pick-up through our drive-up window We also plan to have daily and weekend menu specials, including all scratch-made soups, biscuits, scones, sandwich bread/challah bread, hard rolls, and seasonal pastries and sweets. Campaign Goals: Our LFEBridge campaign goal is to raise $5,000, which will be used to invest in top-of-the-line equipment necessary to produce some of the best bagels in Charlotte. Currently, we are funding the demolition of the existing interior, cleaning and painting the walls, and building the countertops using our savings and a small loan. We will also repair the ceiling, drive-thru window, and furnish the dining area with comfortable tables and chairs. While we can easily obtain most of the smaller items necessary to run a bakery/sandwich shop, it is the larger equipment pieces that are challenging to afford. With the campaign funds, we aim to purchase a large double commercial oven, a 3-door refrigerator, to store rolled bagels overnight, a reach-in cooler for drinks and cream cheese, a 40-quart dough mixer, a 3-tub sink and 2 hand washing sinks, a meat slicer, and a commercial toaster, as well as a flat top griddle and sandwich press. All backers of this campaign that contribute $50 or more will have their name displayed on a plaque in our shop. This is optional. We will contact you to discuss before adding your name. We understand some people might want to donate anonymously. Will we still offer delivery? Yes, absolutely! We understand that receiving your BagelGram right at your doorstep is just as important as the bagels themselves. As long as demand continues for our delivery service and we can employ dependable people to make the deliveries, we will continue to deliver BagelGrams. Delivery Zones Map- Expansion and reorganization of delivery zones: Our plan is to expand our delivery service to reach more outlying areas of Charlotte and its suburbs by merging some zones together and expanding current zones. Our goal is to provide delivery to each zone every 2 weeks. We are committed to delivering to as many areas as possible and will do our best to accommodate all requests. Wholesale: We have began working with Deli's, Cafe's and Coffee Shops all over Charlotte to provide them with exceptionally fresh and delicious BagelGram Bagels. Want to see BGNC bagels in a shop local to you? Reach out to us and we will contact them to discuss. Who is BagelGram NC? BagelGram NC is locally owned by the Priest family; Kevin, Christina and Olivia Priest. Kevin Priest was born and raised in Boca Raton, FL and Christina Priest is from New Jersey. Both coming from areas of the East coast that are home to many great Bagel shops. Kevin, Christina and Olivia Priest - The BagelGram Family Our Story: BagelGram NC was born out of my love for all things culinary and the desire to provide a better life for our family. Faced with limited opportunities in South Florida, my wife and I brainstormed our skills and entrepreneurial goals one night, and decided that creating our own brand was the best way to achieve the life we wanted. Remembering my childhood visits to a local bagel shop and the thrill of watching the bakers at work, it was always fascinating to watch the bakers take big boards of hand rolled bagels and whip them into the giant hot kettle boiler. I always thought, what a cool profession. We began to dream up an idea, to make bagels and sell them at a farmers market on the weekends, with the goal of eventually opening a small storefront. With help from friends in Charlotte, we found a great house, sold almost everything we owned, and moved from South Florida to Matthews, NC. Eight months later, the pandemic hit, and we lost our jobs. Rather than give up, we decided to start making bagels full-time and offer delivery to anyone interested. In April 2024, BagelGramNC.com was launched, and the journey began. Three years later, we've finally found an amazing location to call BagelGram HQ. We can't wait to get this shop built out. We look forward to inviting you all in to enjoy a fresh boiled and baked bagel with us. We signed the lease and got the KEYS!!! Taking BagelGram BAGELS to the highest level! We have made substantial progress since the inception of our first bagel 5 years ago. Initially, our focus was on perfecting the plain bagel formula. Once we mastered the fundamentals, we started experimenting by adding chocolate, berries, and cheese to the base dough. Today, we offer 25 different flavors daily, and have approximately 30 more flavors in our recipe book. The opening of our new shop signifies a major step in our bagel-making journey, and with it comes the opportunity to elevate our skills to new heights. The larger space will allow us to experiment with different techniques and ingredients. We will also be able to purchase the special flour traditionally used in NYC bagel-making. In addition, we will ultra-purify our water, a key ingredient in achieving the perfect texture and flavor of a bagel. We are dedicated to using only the best ingredients and techniques to make the most delicious and authentic bagels possible. What ingredients make a great bagel? The WATER. We tested spring water sold at many grocery stores to find water that has the ideal PH level and similar mineral content found in New York's water to produce our bagels. We find the local tap water is too hard and contains too much Chlorine and Fluoride to use in our bagel making. The bagels would end up dry and flat. Only quality spring water will do. In our new shop we plan to utilize a 3 part water filtration system that will filter out chlorine and chloramines, lead and PFOA/PFOS. The filters will also reduce mercury, chlorine-resistant cysts, herbicides, pesticides, VOCs, pharmaceuticals and micro-plastics. Using filtered water with a calculated amount of minerals added back in will give us a water quality almost identical to New York's famed Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains reservoirs. We will have plenty of clean, crisp water to make thousands of bagels a day. The second part to great bagels is the FLOUR. At the moment we are purchasing the best bread flour available to us locally. We are currently driving to multple stores to buy enough of this flour to keep the shop rolling. Once the shop opens we will have a commercial supplier deliver weekly specially formulated bagel flour, the same flour used by the great bagel makers of the North East. The new flour will allow for longer fermentation providing more flavor. The flour will also form a better crumb, a chewier interior and bright beautiful crunchy shell. To sum this part up: Better Water, Better Flour, Fresh Yeast and Kosher Salt = Excellent Bagels Our projected opening date is Mid October, 2024! If you live in the area, we kindly request that you help us spread the word about our campaign to your neighbors. BGNC is calling Indian Trail home! Our mission is to build and support our community, and we believe that opening this space is a significant step towards achieving that goal. We would be grateful for any support you can offer, and all contributions to our campaign are highly appreciated. - The BagelGram NC Family
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