Ed Schwartzman sells freshly baked bagels and house-made spreads from his new bagel shop on 3rd Street near the IU campus.
“To me, serving others is…we might not be curing cancer, but I think what we’re doing matters. I think extending a smile to somebody, asking them where they’re from, engaging–connecting with them, connecting on some level–and to me, food does that.”
Ed Schwartzman and his wife had a deal. Since the two own BuffaLouie’s, Ed could try out his pandemic project of a bagel shop in town with real, New York-style bagels, using the store as a “ghost kitchen,” so long as there was no trace of the operation by the time BuffaLouie’s opened for business each morning.
It worked. Well. Called Gabels Bagels, the business grew quickly, at first via word-of-mouth from East Coast students and their families or local businesses making bulk orders. Schwartzman believes the secret is the bagels themselves, which he has shippped--par-baked and flash-frozen from a New Jersey supplier and then bakes fresh in-house. Now, the storefront in town regularly has lines around the block, and Schwartzman is dreaming of a second location.
Hear the interview on this episode of Earth Eats.
