TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Cereal, donuts, bagels. They're all mainstays for breakfast and you might even be eating some right now. January 15th is "National Bagel Day" so we wanted to pull back the curtain on one of Tucson's biggest successes in that sphere, or circle, for Dan's Discoveries.
"Hi... How can I help you?"
Becca Groff repeats over and over as she works the front counter. Of all the bagel shops in all the cities in all the world...
"Ok - That is going to be $8.38 and Kyle will check you out there..."
If you haven't walked into Bubbe's Fine Bagels, you're missing out.
"We're gonna send you down to that counter. You'll pay there. Thanks so much."
You'd think Becca Groff and Kyle Leuer have been in the bagel business forever. Maybe it's a secret recipe handed down or a family legacy from their own bubbes which is Yiddish for grandmother?
Not exactly.
"We kind of just honestly, as a joke, started talking about 'Hey, what if we did a bagel shop together'? 'Had you ever made bagels before? [I asked Kyle]... No."
No bagel-making experience 5 five years ago when they graduated from the U of A but plenty of love for the round, boiled breakfast staple.
The expert behind their popular lineup of bakery goodness: Andrea Staples.
"Who doesn't like a bagel?" Andrea laughed, barely stopping to talk as she moved from place to place in the kitchen.
She's busy in the back boiling and baking anywhere between 1,000 and 1,500 bagels every day.
That's more than 8,000 a week, 35,000 a month, well, you get the idea. Bagels equal big business if you do it right.
Kyle grew up in the Chicago area and always had plenty of options.
"There's plenty of bagel shops there but for some reason Tucson didn't have any locally owned bagel shops at that time."
So they decided to fill that ... hole... as "very naive 22 year-olds. We're like, we can figure this out, like, we can do this," Becca said.
Whatever the secret spice or recipe for success, it all starts with a discerning palate.
"A good bagel should be chewy but not hard. And the outside should have a crust on it that is almost, I'm not gonna say flaky, but it should be almost glass-like," Becca told me.
Kyle agreed.
"The inside should just kind of give away. It should be nice and light and fluffy and have that, like, chewy texture to it."
Becca and Kyle have the right idea. Andrea brings the bagel dreams to life. The veteran baker showed me her process at a fever pitch.
"We're boiling them first and this gives them the delicious crust. This is malt and water," she said, pointing to the massive kettle.
"I love making a product that is delicious, fresh, made here in Tucson and is a quality product," Andrea said.
The best compliment could be from those East Coasters; the bagel snobs who have to admit Bubbe's is doing something right.
"People (keep) telling us 'Hey, whenever I go back to the East Coast I would have to bring a suitcase of bagels back home with me to Tucson. And now that we've been here, they've been telling us it's amazing. We don't have to bring bagels back every single time. We can get them here," Kyle said.
So grab a couple or more.
"Four?" Becca asks an eager customer. "Just in a bag to go? Great."
And enjoy the flavorful creations and custom schmear at this small business success story that's just getting started.
Get more information about Bubbe's Fine Bagels
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Dan Spindle co-anchors Good Morning Tucson on KGUN 9 and is an award-winning storyteller whose work has earned him honors from the Rocky Mountain Southwest Emmys, the Associated Press and the Utah Society of Professional Journalists for both anchoring and reporting. Dan is passionate about history and loves to explore the Grand Canyon State. Share your story ideas with Dan by emailing dan.spindle@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, or X.
