Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jacob Anson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jacob, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

We hand roll, boil and bake our bagels daily!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

We began making bagels at home when we realized there weren’t any hand-rolled bagels in our area. We seen this as an opportunity to master the craft and offer something special to our area that was lacking. We began selling our bagels through social media and then had an opportunity to do a pop-up shop inside of a local restaurant. This allowed us to showcase our product to our friends and neighbors and grow our following. We made so many incredible connections doing this, one of which was Village Ford. When they approached us with an opportunity to take over their cafe, we knew it was the perfect fit for us. We’ve been open in our new location for 4 months now and couldn’t be happier with where this journey has led us. We take a no-frills approach to our shop and simply love serving our customers quality bagels, along with sandwiches, soup, salad, and scratch-made cookies. Our following has grown very organically and we are so grateful for each and every person who we’ve had the pleasure to serve.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When we started making bagels, we were broke. We had been working different jobs that we didn’t love, trying to find something that suited us and what we wanted out of our lives. We were rolling bagels after work, using any leftover money we had to buy flour. We began posting about them and hoped for the best. Looking back, it’s kind of crazy to think we quit our jobs with no money so that we could sell bagels on Instagram! It goes to show that when you lean into the uncomfortable, you grow in ways you never could have dreamed. When you make your life depend on it, you figure it out.

How did you build your audience on social media?

People like people that they can relate to. We always showed up on social media as our authentic selves and noticed that others responded well to that. Our biggest piece of advice is not to wait until everything appears perfect before posting on social media.. People want to see the process and the progression! It makes them feel like they are a part of it. You have to be okay with people seeing you try and put yourself out there even though it’s uncomfortable.

Contact Info:

• Website: brazenbagels.com
• Instagram: brazenbagels
• Facebook: Brazen Bagels
• Other: brazenbagels on TikTok