{"id":213553,"date":"2026-03-31T20:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T20:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/213553\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T20:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T20:46:08","slug":"review-popup-bagels-is-changing-our-relationship-to-cream-cheese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/213553\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW | PopUp Bagels is changing our relationship to cream cheese"},"content":{"rendered":"

PopUp Bagels<\/a> is hardly hungry for attention. Hundreds of influencers and influencer-adjacent bagel enthusiasts converged on the Connecticut chain\u2019s first Jacksonville location when it opened in Town Center this past December. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The company, which bills itself as a \u201csocial media phenomenon,\u201d is expanding aggressively across the state, with similarly rapturous receptions anticipated in Miami, Orlando, and Rockledge, among 30 other locations planned<\/a> statewide.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many people are seeing us through TikTok,\u201d spokeswoman Anna O\u2019Keefe says of PopUp\u2019s popularity, so intense in certain markets that the company\u2019s website assures prospective customers, \u201cTrust us, the wait is part of the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Customers wait in line for PopUp Bagels in Jacksonville | Hanna Raskin<\/p>\n

Yet while press coverage has made liberal use of adjectives such as \u201cviral,\u201d \u201ccult,\u201d and (not incorrectly) \u201cgood\u201d in describing PopUp, most objective assessments of the sensation have somehow missed what might be most significant about its contribution to bagel culture. Namely, the brand\u2019s poised to reshape the nation\u2019s relationship with cream cheese.<\/p>\n

For those not acquainted with the PopUp model, which was pioneered in founder Adam Goldberg\u2019s Westport, Connecticut, backyard, \u201csimplicity\u201d is central to it. What that means in practice is the takeout-only menu\u2019s sheared of the choices that patrons usually confront when placing bagel orders: Bagels are served whole, not sliced; hot, not toasted; and with cream cheese, rather than seven different elements that add up to a sandwich.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

More puzzlingly, from a customer\u2019s perspective\u2014although it surely makes sense for the bottom line\u2014is there\u2019s no such thing at PopUp as ordering a single bagel. Perhaps that notion escapes people\u2019s minds when they\u2019ve been waiting in line long enough; O\u2019Keefe dutifully suggests that PopUp bagels are so good that eating just one is impossible. Regardless, the minimum purchase is three bagels and eight ounces of cream cheese for $15.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In other words, that\u2019s 2.6 ounces of cream cheese per bagel, applied at the customer\u2019s discretion. Remember, slicing\u2019s off the table at PopUp, so it\u2019s up to whomever bought the bagels to either find a knife or comply with the company\u2019s directive: \u201cGrip, rip, and dip.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"A poppy seed bagel, pre-rip and dip | Hanna Raskin<\/p>\n

Historically, the traditional amount of cream cheese on a bagel is a schmear, which isn\u2019t a precise measurement\u2014unless \u201ctoo much\u201d counts as a definition. As a Z100 host recently pleaded<\/a> in a Facebook video devoted to the perennial complaint, \u201cCan I just have a half schmear?\u201d<\/p>\n

Honestly? No. In defiance of economic logic, nutritional advice, and agreed-upon good taste, New York City bagel shops\u2014along with bagelries in Jacksonville and elsewhere that take inspiration from them\u2014continue to put way too much cream cheese on bagels. Bagel fans are resigned to unwrapping even their favorite bagels and discovering scads of smooth, cool, and relentlessly mild cream cheese smothering defenseless slices of lox, seeping over the bagel\u2019s edges, and clogging its signature hole.<\/p>\n

As Gilad Edelman pointed out<\/a> in Slate more than a decade ago, it\u2019s the rare instance where a restaurateur\u2019s apparent charity makes the eating experience worse. Disrupting the ratio of cream cheese to bagel throws off flavor profiles and creates food waste that challenges even the most scrupulous eaters. It\u2019s the unusual to-go breakfaster who\u2019s prepared to pack up and store three ounces of undesired cream cheese to enjoy later.<\/p>\n

Yet massive amounts of cream cheese still prevail in the Jacksonsville area, and not one of the bagel store owners contacted by Jacksonville Today reported hearing any objections. In fact, they said they\u2019re dedicated to upholding their current portion sizes even in the face of rising prices.<\/p>\n

At Holey Moley<\/a> in Baymeadows, the standard is four ounces, or one-quarter of a pound. \u201cThe idea is to give a generous \u2018schmear\u2019 so that every bite has plenty of cream cheese, which is what most people expect from a traditional bagel shop,\u201d owner Ronald Peretti explained. \u201cWe try to maintain that classic generous portion and adjust other things when necessary, rather than cutting back on what customers expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four ounces is also the rule at Joint Bagel Co.<\/a> in St. Augustine. It \u201cseems to be accepted by the majority of our patrons,\u201d owner Scott Keeperman said, although he allows the occasional customer will ask for a \u201clight\u201d serving or cream cheese on the side.<\/p>\n

Bagels R Us<\/a> owner Abhi Somaiya declined to specify ounces, but wrote in an email, \u201cWe rarely have customers that ask for more!\u201d<\/p>\n

In the PopUp world, though, the relationship between bagel and cream cheese is entirely reordered. Even though cream cheese isn\u2019t a buyer\u2019s first impression upon tearing open a PopUp bag, since a logoed white container can\u2019t complete visually with seeded orbs of hot bread, it\u2019s the component that they might later recall\u2014and even crave.<\/p>\n

As O\u2019Keefe says, \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of flexibility with our cream cheese,\u201d which comes in cheffy flavors such as Guiness Chocolate Stout Cake for St. Patrick\u2019s Day and lemon poppy butter, salted maple banana bread, and cacio e pepe when there\u2019s nothing on the calendar to celebrate.<\/p>\n

Just as salsa is inevitably the star of chips-and-salsa, cream cheese finally gets a leading role when cast as a dip instead of dead weight. Or, to use an old saying that doesn\u2019t rhyme as cutely as PopUp\u2019s tagline: less is more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PopUp Bagels is hardly hungry for attention. Hundreds of influencers and influencer-adjacent bagel enthusiasts converged on the Connecticut…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-213553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}