NYC startup PopUp Bagels to open 300 stores in the next four years

PopUp Bagels, a NYC startup is planning to open 300 stores in the next four years throughout the U.S. using the franchise model.

Franchise openings are planned for nearly all sunbelt states plus Illinois and throughout the East Coast.

PopUp Bagels, which actually started making bagels in a Connecticut house during the pandemic, now has 16 stores, seven of them in the bagel mecca of New York.

Investment firm Stripes took a majority stake in PopUp in 2024, providing capital and the impetus for the expansion. PopUp plans to open 60 to 70 shops by the end of next year. Tory Bartlett, MBA is the company’s CEO.

Shops are barebones, averaging 700 to 1,200 square feet with limited seating, making them speedy takeout operations requiring only a few workers per location.

Read more: PopUp Is Wall Street’s Bet a National Chain Can Actually Make Good Bagels (Bloomberg)