Sherry's Bagels: Not a business but more than a hobby
Bagel making is a business and it can be a big business. When the poor immigrant bagel makers of Poland landed in the Lower East Side of New York they worked in squalor and lived frugally. But decades later, with the rise of unions, these bagel makers were earning more than police and teachers. With the mechanization of bagel making, and later, new methods for mass distribution of frozen bagels (credited to Lenders Bagels),the bagel market expanded geographically and culturally. The artisan hand rolled bagel became a thing of the past and the unions lost their strength.
The artisan bagel is making a comeback and the New York bagel is the gold standard for bagels in the Bay Area. New bagel shops are gaining notice. They have their brick and mortar stores, sometimes multiple stores,, they have signature bagels and of course “merch”. I consider these bagel shops to be a business. I don’t consider Sherry’s Bagels a business, but I am not sure exactly how I should characterize what I do.
I started baking bagels for very personal reasons. I wasn’t in search of the perfect bagel nor was I trying to replicate the New York bagel. (I’m not from New York, although my mother and father were born in the Bronx so maybe baking a good bagel is in my DNA. ) For the past 6 years I’ve been organizing community bake sales to both educate and fundraise around social justice issues. I started focusing on bagel making when the pandemic hit and the bake sales were no longer viable under a COVID atmosphere.
When my husband died in March of last year, I increased my bagel making production, for what I call “kneading to grieve.” With dozens of bagels coming out of my oven, I distributed them to my neighbors and friends who were part of a larger support community.
(Sometimes friends cannot wait to take their bagels home)
At the urging of one neighbor and recognizing that I couldn’t economically sustain this bagel making hobby, I designed a website and called myself Sherry’s Bagels. This is not much of a business name, but then again, I keep telling people..I’m not trying to build a business. I want to bake bagels, sell bagels and make enough money to pay for the horrendous shipping costs of my favorite flour, and the alarmingly high gas bill ($327) that slaps me each month. Most importantly, I wanted to donate a portion of the funds to the Sogorea ‘Te Land Trust. So I keep telling myself, Sherry’s Bagels isn’t a business, at least not a profitable one.
People genuinely liked my bagels; I have customers who return for more bagels, and customers who subscribed regularly for my bagels. I’ve begun a monthly pop-up at the Golden Hour on Solano Ave., and finding new bagel eaters. When I staged my third pop-up on February 4th I learned that people are happy to buy my bagels frozen as well as fresh from the porch on Sundays. So now I’m thinking about getting a freezer for my garage. After all, I can’t continue borrowing freezer space from my neighbor. So as I sat down with spreadsheets and costs etc., and struggled with the notion of business or hobby…what is Sherry’s Bagels?
I know I want to continue making bagels for the community. I won’t have a storefront and I have no desire for one. If ever there would be a collective or community kitchen with bakers who have a vision for food and social justice, I’m all in. I want to be hyper local. Walk, e-bike, or drive to my house or stop by a Pop-UP in the neighborhood and grab a bagel and chat. I like to see you smile and watch you derive enjoyment from a chewy bite. You pay me and I cover my costs and give to a good cause. I know this is not a model for a profitable business and I know it’s not living.I am not building a bagel empire but I do want Sherry’s Bagels to be more than a hobby. Maybe we can call it a service.
Any thoughts?
