Bagelshop Plans Retail Space in the Fairlane Hotel

I guess I’m on the Jewish-food beat this week. And no, I’m not mad about it. First was yesterday’s news about Shep’s Delicatessen opening in the former Marché Artisan Foods space. And now there's news that Bagelshop is opening its doors inside the Fairlane Hotel (401 Union St.). 

The 13-month-old Bagelshop has been selling its legit boiled bagels by delivery and at select venues around town, baking them out of the Citizen Kitchens location in East Nashville. That was a great setup for their launch, but as Bagelshop has taken off it wasn’t enough. “We hit our max capacity," says co-owner Max Palmer. "Sometimes we were waiting on the mixer and were only able to produce a certain amount."

Bagelshop was looking for the right real estate (with the help of a bagel business consultant out of New York). Meanwhile, they had been selling wholesale bagels to Union Teller, a previous tenant in the Fairlane, and the hotel approached Bagelshop about moving in. When the Palmers (Max and his wife Kayla run the business) toured the vacant space, they realized it was oddly suited for them.

“It was crazy how perfect it was for us," Palmer says. "It was made for making bagels. The kitchen has every piece of equipment we need." That’s thanks to the Montreal-style bagel-maker that occupied the space when the hotel opened.

Indeed, the Fairlane — one of my favorite hotels — has gone through a few different food vendors. At first, it was Mile End Delicatessen (RIP, their black-and-white cookie; though Palmer has promised to offer new ones) and the separate Union Teller coffee shop. Cheese Gal took over the former coffee shop space (exterior entrance on Fourth Avenue North), and now Bagelshop will be in the old Mile End space (exterior entrance on Union Street) and will be the only coffee-and-breakfast purveyor at the hotel. Ellington’s Restaurant on the fourth floor serves happy hour and dinner. Both Cheese Gal and Bagelshop can be accessed from the lobby too.

Bagelshop will sell bagels (expanding beyond its original core seven varieties), sandwiches, lox and whitefish, and is hiring a pastry chef to add the aforementioned black-and-white cookies and other sweets. There may be French toast and other specials as well as challah bread on Fridays. The main focus will be counter service and takeaway, although you can sit and enjoy a cup of coffee and eat in the sleek midcentury-style hotel lobby. They’ve contracted with Stay Golden to offer a custom coffee blend. The goal is to keep sandwich prices under $10, and they may even drop their bagel prices a smidge. 

Even better news for food-service folks looking for employment: Thanks to the expanded services, Bagelshop is now hiring. 

If you are like me and are thinking, “This is awesome for the Palmers, but I don’t want to look for parking downtown to get a bagel,” Palmer has your back (and mine). Bagelshop negotiated a deal with the hotel — you’ll be able to leave your car with the hotel valet for 10 minutes to grab your bagels. Delivery will still be available, but the specifics may change. Regular weekly dozen orders may move to more of a subscription-type delivery, while one-off orders will be run through a third-party delivery service like Postmates. You’ll still be able to find the friendly Bagelshop faces at neighborhood farmers markets, and the bagels will still be sold at Citizens Market at Hunters Station and Elegy Coffee in Inglewood. They’ll also continue to offer bagels wholesale to restaurants around town.

The team will move into the new space next week and will start making bagels ASAP. The retail business is scheduled to open in mid-March.