Photo by Lauren Drewes Daniels
Audio By Carbonatix
PopUp Bagels started as a backyard pop-up window during the pandemic, and now, with its micro but loyal cult following and virality across social media, it has grown to a humble 30 stores as of March of this year.
When the first Dallas location was announced, the city was thrilled about the addition along Lovers Lane. Opening day had lines out the door, and just as swiftly, a second location opened on June 5 in the Knox-Henderson neighborhood.
Before the month is over, North Texas will have a third PopUp Bagels location opening on Friday, June 26, at 8565 W. University Drive in McKinney.
A solid dozen stores
All three of these shops were part of a larger strategy: opening over a dozen PopUp Bagel stores across Texas in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio.
At the time of writing, there are three open stores, two in Dallas and one in Houston, excluding the pending opening of the McKinney location.
According to an article by QSR Magazine, PopUp Bagels CEO Tony Bartlett’s growth strategy aims to bring the total number of PopUp Bagels locations to 100 by 2027.
This growth strategy is backed by investments from Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, former NFL player Michael Strahan, actors Paul Rudd and Patrick Schwarzenegger and Hollywood producer John Davis.
Bartlett called the expansion strategy conservatively aggressive because he wants the brand to grow fast, but not at the risk of the brand’s health.
By July 2025, the franchise had signed with 300 franchise locations across the U.S. It has locations in 15 states, including the District of Columbia.
Easy to duplicate
Expanding a shop like PopUp, with only five bagel flavors, a handful of both rotating and permanent schmears and only four ways to buy them, creates an easily scalable business model.
In the interview with QSR, Bartlett also mentioned the bagel shop’s hours — 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. — make it an attractive place to work for hourly workers and people with families.
To us, it seems PopUp Bagels stands on the shoulders of its predecessors: the froyo shops of the early 2000s, the gourmet cupcake trend that took over in the late 2000s, and most recently, Crumbl cookies, which is somehow not bankrupt for selling cookies with 720 calories.
Trendy partnerships
The only difference now is that bagels are timeless, and the team behind PopUp has created a solid brand marketable to both Gen Z and millennials, with novelty from trendy brand partnerships and a social media presence that keeps it hip and its diners engaged.
Bartlett told QSR that there were many bagel deserts across the U.S. and that no one was making bagels like theirs.
The end of that statement could be a stretch, but they could be right about the schmears. Flavors rotate every two weeks, announced on their social media channels, and they’ve partnered with TRUFF, Guinness and Grillo’s in the past.
Anyone can admit it’s engaging, but as far as North Texas is concerned, there is no bagel desert here.
Our city has a track record of trendy restaurants/shops opening, only to flop within the first five years.
Will PopUp Bagel’s novelty attract and sustain a loyal following with its louder than loud in-store music and novelty? Or will its restrictive menu — the minimum order is a three pack with schmear for $15 — be its downfall?
