It's been an all around incredible year for the bagel business. The highlight of the year was the 3rd Annual Brooklyn BagelFest. It was a huge success with over 2,000 attendees, 17 bagel shops (from the Lower East Side to Lisbon!), 18 bagel-adjacent brands (from fish to fashion!), and 22 phenomenal expert judges. The event was a true celebration of everything bagels. And with an average 8.9/10 rating from 244 attendees, we are proud to have delivered a fun and entertaining weekend for all!

Our second highlight was launching NYC Bagel Tours. We ran a total of 38 tours for over 150 people from all over the world - all of which received a 5 out of 5 rating. It was a joy to meet everyone, introduce them to the best bagel shops in the city, and provide the ultimate New York bagel experience.

We also launched the Bagel Buzz Instagram Live, publishing 43 episodes and counting! It's been a great way to connect with industry experts and our followers and share our passion for bagels with a wider audience.

Speaking of connecting with our audience, we also launched the Bagel Buzz Monthly Newsletter, which has now completed 12 monthly editions! We’ve grown the newsletter to over 1,500 subscribers, and it's been a great way to keep everyone up to date on all things bagel.

We ran the Bagel Bash, our first non-BaglFest event, which was a great success and proved that people enjoyed the concept of a “Bagel Flight”, and planned several more bagel-centric events for 2023.

all in on bagels

In August, I made the decision to quit my corporate job and focus on the bagel business full time. It's been a risky but rewarding move, and I couldn't be happier with the decision. I’m looking forward to more events, more tours, and by far the most epic BagelFest yet as we lay the groundwork for amazing things to come.

Some personal stats: I ate over 300 bagels from more than 50 different shops, and ventured out to try the bagels in other cities like Philly, Boston, and Chicago. A handful of my videos went viral, with the top one garnering over 4.1M views.

Overall, it's been an amazing year, both personally and for the bagel business. I can't wait to see what the future holds and to continue to spread the love of this delicious and unifying food with others.

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Acknowledgements

I can’t end this without thanking the incredible network of people who’ve helped make all this possible: Allie, EB, Rory, Alletta, Ryan, Mom & Dad, Jacob, Lizi Matt Mia & Louie, Uncle Mark, Kev TJ & Phil, Erica, Wendy, Mike, Ruby, Alex, Jesse, Scott & the Utopia family, Vic, Mustafa & the Liberty team, Sam and the Bagel Point squad, Chris and the Tompkins Square team, Marom, Sharon and the Kossar’s crew, and so so many more!

Here’s to a great 2023 for all of us.

Keep on rollin’!

-Sam Silverman