Pop-up bagel shop fills a hole

Law enforcement officer by day, baker by night – Andy Urbach is the aproned hero delivering fresh-baked bagels to an island that can’t get enough of his yeasted works of art.

A Corrections Officer with the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office, Andy is the driving force behind Old Town Bagel Co., a pop-up shop preparing for its fourth bagel bonanza this coming Sunday, March 20 from 8:30-10 a.m. at Van Go’s Pizza on Web Street. (Pre-orders open Wednesday at 8 a.m. on their Facebook page.)

Although he’s been baking since arriving on San Juan Island nearly two decades ago, it wasn’t until last year that Andy seriously considered becoming Friday Harbor’s local bagel broker.

“I started studying, researching, testing bagels and recipes,” he says. “Eventually the Sheriff’s Office became my guinea pigs.”

In the end, it was the combination of a made-up January holiday and serendipitous kitchen space that sealed the decision.

“It was kind of a last minute thing,” Andy explains. “A friend sent a note to my wife showing that National Bagel Day was about ten days away [on Jan. 15], so we decided to go for it. I had just been offered the use of Cafe Demeter’s kitchen to test the equipment, and Pam [Stewart of Cafe Demeter] said, ‘Let’s do it.’ So I scrambled to get all the ingredients and supplies, and we gave away 250 bagels and cream cheese.”

Building on that successful start, Old Town Bagel Co. ran its first paid pop-up three weeks later, then followed it with another pop-up the very next week, on Super Bowl Sunday. With their baking and ordering processes more refined, Andy and his crew managed to deliver all 500 of their pre-ordered bagels in just one hour.

It’s an impressive feat on its own, but even more so when one considers that the bagels are being created in kitchens that Andy hardly knows.

“Restaurant kitchens are set up and equipped for what they do, not what I do,” Andy says. “So the mixers are different types and sizes, the ovens are different sizes – one’s gas, one’s electric. The batch size of the dough varies with the size and strength of the mixer. That affects not only the timing, but the consistency of the end product. The dough reacts differently and can be more or less difficult to roll. We had to try to adjust quickly to how to bake and get the result we wanted with the different equipment.

“But it has been so great, and I am so appreciative of Pam of Cafe Demeter and Daniel Van Hamersfeld of Van Go Pizza for their support and generosity. Without them, and their willingness to open their kitchens to me, Old Town Bagel Co. would still be on paper, and bagels would still be scarce on San Juan Island.

“Okay, at the moment, they are still scarce, but hopefully not for long.”

Andy plans to eventually have a permanent home for his bagel shop, but for now he’s still waiting for the right fit. “We were in talks for a location, but have decided to continue looking for the right space. For now, it looks like pop-ups through the summer.”

From Andy’s perspective, the bagel shop’s new home will come along whenever it’s meant to. And when it does, he’ll be ready.

“I have been an entrepreneur all my life, from mowing lawns and selling sodas on the sixth hole of the local golf course as a child, to a produce company and a child safety store as an adult. Through the years here on San Juan I have researched and considered several restaurant ideas. Nearly every time I concluded they were not viable. I’m convinced that the best business decisions I have ever made were to not do something. I’m also convinced that God knew better than I did on a couple of ideas I was ready to move forward with.”

If you’ve ever thought that Andy’s bagels might be blessed, now you know why.

Photo credit: Jillian Urbach

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