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A fairly new established bagel chain will have its first footprint in Wilmington as a family with restaurateur ties plans to launch four stores in the tri-county region. Two Jeff\u2019s Bagel Runs are set to open in Wilmington this year, the first next week. (Courtesy photo)<\/p>\n
SOUTHEASTERN N.C. \u2014\u00a0A fairly new established bagel chain will have its first footprint in Wilmington as a family with restaurateur ties plans to launch four stores in the tri-county region. Two are set to open in Wilmington this year, the first next week.<\/p>\n
Jeff\u2019s Bagel Run will have a two-day soft opening starting June 24, before its official grand opening and ribbon-cutting with city council and the mayor takes place on June 26. Franchise owners Danielle and Oluwole Odunusi, as well as Bill Neeland, have been working with Timeless Construction to upfit the first location at 3544 Oleander Drive, situated beside Jersey Mike\u2019s in front of Independence Mall.<\/p>\n
The bagel shop is known for its scratch-made rounds, whipped spreads, coffee drinks and refreshers. Jeff\u2019s Bagel Run offers upward of a dozen flavors, both traditional \u2014 everything, sesame, blueberry \u2014 and unique combinations. Rosemary sea salt, Asiago everything, and cacio e pepe are stand-outs, and there is a bagel flavor of the day, like hot honey or pizza. The whipped spreads can also be fun, from cake batter to vegan chive and onion.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Fired up: Brisket, so far, is star attraction at Monkey Junction\u2019s new barbecue restaurant<\/a><\/p>\n The franchise also partners with other businesses, such as Jeremiah\u2019s Italian Ice this summer, for variations on spreads like a mango-based one, and drinks, such as an ice cream sundae latte. They use Otus Coffee out of Florida, which roasts its beans and works with farmers from Guatemala and Colombia.\u00a0<\/p>\n The restaurant started out of founder Jeff Perera\u2019s kitchen during the Covid-19 pandemic as he was laid off from a senior living company and making the perfect New York bagel became a passion project to impress his wife, Danielle \u2014\u00a0from Long Island.\u00a0<\/p>\n Perera began doing \u201cbagel runs\u201d during the pandemic, sharing the love with neighbors, family and friends from his baking experiments. He also built a box in his front yard and put bagels there for people to pick up. This eventually evolved into the couple opening their first store in 2021 in Ocoee, Florida.<\/p>\n While on family vacation at Disney World in Orlando with her husband and kids, Odunusi stepped into a Jeff\u2019s Bagel Run for the first time and bit into what she called \u201cthe best bagel I ever had in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I really wanted to bring it back to Wilmington,\u201d she added, \u201cto share it with everyone here.\u201d<\/p>\n That Orlando location has grown into a national footprint, with Jeff\u2019s Bagel Run now in six states with more than 45 stores. In North Carolina, there are operations in the Charlotte and Triangle regions. In addition to Oleander Drive, there will be a second Jeff\u2019s Bagel Run opening in Military Cutoff\u2019s upcoming mixed-use complex, Center Point, by Thanksgiving, according to Neeland.<\/p>\n A silent investor and Danielle\u2019s dad, Neeland said after one week into retirement from the state, he got a call from his daughter about potentially franchising the shop and asking for help.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnd here we are,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI look at it as my children are my wealth on this Earth. And this gives me an excuse to play more with my grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n Odunusi has had a nursing career, while her husband is a pulmonologist. She wanted a change of pace and thought opening Jeff\u2019s Bagel Run would be a good move as it combines her love for community and socializing with people.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are going to be the first who people interact with a lot of time in the morning, and hopefully make their day better, get them off to a great start,\u201d she said, as the bagel shop opens at 6:30 a.m. and closes at 2 p.m. seven days a week.<\/p>\n Getting into the restaurant business is also tapping into Odunusi and Neeland\u2019s roots. They detailed how their family owned and operated a restaurant, Pot\u2019s On Kitchen, in the Outer Banks area for years. It specialized in country cooking and Odunisi said she worked there during her youth, while also taking server positions in other restaurants during college.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s in my blood,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The bagel roller came into the Oleander shop earlier this week and Neeland was able to prepare the first dough round. He said it has to be precise, weighing close to 150 grams and cut in 3.5-inch blocks.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf it\u2019s more than 150 grams, it looks like a softball,\u201d he quipped. \u201cWe proof them overnight before boiling them and then roll the bagels in the toppings and bake them off at 480 degrees.\u201d<\/p>\n While served best hot, the shop can\u2019t toast them as it\u2019s only operating on a bakery license, though Neeland said they can provide some of \u201cthe best bagels and spreads to toast at home.\u201d<\/p>\n Odunusi suspects making upward of 800 daily at first but adjusting to the market as need be. She anticipates fulfilling catering and large orders for offices and the like, but any leftover products will go to the Good Shepherd Center or the food bank, she added.<\/p>\n \u201cOur goal is to become the community bagel shop of choice,\u201d Neeland said.<\/p>\n The operation has around 25 employees, with the same expected for the other stores in the franchise agreement. The goal is to choose locations with high foot traffic, thus Oleander Drive and Military Cutoff\u2019s nearly 50,000 cars daily are ideal. They\u2019re considering opening two more shops in Leland and Hampstead next, but where exactly is unclear.<\/p>\n Odunusi said while the Wilmington locations don\u2019t operate with drive-thrus, she hopes Leland can.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of commuters there, so it would make sense,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jeff\u2019s Bagel Run has its soft opening next week, with free bagels and spreads offered to the public on Wednesday and Thursday, June 24 and 25, as staff gets its feet under them before the shop launches officially on Friday, June 26. Odunusi said the grand opening begins at 9:30 a.m. with games, activities, a chance to win swag and gift certificates, plus kids\u2019 offerings.\u00a0<\/p>\n At Port City Daily, we aim to keep locals informed on top-of-mind news facing the tri-county region. To support our work and help us reach more people in 2026, please, consider helping one of two ways: Subscribe\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0or make a one-time contribution\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n We appreciate your ongoing support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A fairly new established bagel chain will have its first footprint in Wilmington as a family with restaurateur…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-312676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312676","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=312676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}