Restaurant Owners Uncorked · Schedulefly

Scaling Scratch-Made Nostalgia: The Story of Jeff's Bagel Run

·1 hr 2 min·5 clips

Jeff's wife closed her eyes and was transported back to childhood after biting into his perfected bagel.

The growth curve is the hook. Jeff says the brand opened store number three by 2024, then reached eleven locations by the end of 2024. The host catches the leap right away. Nine stores in 2024 is a lot, and Jeff makes the months sound packed almost to the edge. Then the conversation turns to franchising. Jeff points to Justin Weatherill, his business partner, who started You Break I Fix after breaking his own phone in college. That story matters because Justin had already gone from a bedroom repair idea to a retail franchise model. For Jeff, that gave the bagel business a way to think about repeatability without making the whole thing feel cold. The connection sounds personal. Jeff talks about the kinship of people who know what it is like to build a company from nothing. The host gets that immediately, especially the emotional swing of ownership: waking up fired up, then ending the day wondering if the whole bet works. Growth is exciting here, but the episode keeps circling back to struggle, heartache, highs, and lows. Justin comes across warmly. Jeff calls him humble and family driven, which makes the partnership sound rooted in trust, not just store count math. The restaurant angle stays practical too. The host asks why franchising made sense so early, especially when Jeff admits he did not know much about it. The ending stays human, with Will thanking Jeff, sending regards to Danielle, and naming the husband-and-wife work behind the business.

As heard by us

A fast-moving bagel franchise story that keeps the founder journey practical and human.

Jeff's Bagel Run comes across as a clear founder story with a practical lesson underneath it: a bagel idea can move fast once the model fits. The growth numbers do the heavy lifting here, with no stores in 2023, 11 by the end of 2024, and 24 now, while the discussion stays close…

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Hear how a bagel brand grew from a real problem into a fast-moving franchise story.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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