Dot Bagels, the popular bagel shop that opened on Heaton’s Chillingham Road just six months ago, is about to open an outlet in Jesmond, in the unit on Acorn Road that was home to a hardware store for more than 100 years.

Dot Bagel owner Craig Robinson told JesmondLocal the inspiration for opening a dedicated bagel shop came from working in Boston, then trialling a bagel menu at the Brew and Bite coffee shop he also owns on Heaton’s Chillingham Road.

The first Dot Bagel shop opened in Heaton last September, but Robinson says that when speaking to customers, he discovered that many were coming from Jesmond. “It’s always been a dream of mine, to have a presence in Jesmond,” he said. “Then we came across the site, I thought, 100%, it’s perfect.”

Robinson worked as a general manager for Pret A Manger on Newcastle’s Grainger Street, before moving to the United States for three years to help grow the brand in Boston.

“In America you can’t turn a corner without seeing a bagel shop,” he said. “We used to eat them all the time.”

Robinson recalls how tough it was to try and grow Pret A Manger in America. “Even though Pret is massively known in the UK, the US is a completely new territory,” he said. “The sheer work involved in getting to 10 sites is the hardest. Once you get to 10 you’ve got an idea of what works, what doesn’t and what you can move around depending on the location and the team.”

Starting a bagel shop comes with its challenges too. “The reason why not a lot of people have done it before is because bagel production is very laborious. It takes between 24 and 36 hours, where we make the dough, add all its flavours and let them prove really slowly overnight,” explained Robinson.

“We then start early the next day, getting in about 4:30am and working until around 10am when we’ve got most of our bagels baked off. We then start the whole process again.”

Robinson said he has also found joy in being able to provide new, exciting jobs for people. “We have 16 staff and with Dot Bagels that’ll scale up to between 25-27. That’s also a cool part of what we do, that we’re able to provide a job for people, in the north east. In these crazy times, we’ve been able to offer people stability,” commented Robinson, who says Dot Bagels offers only full time positions and does not use zero-hours contracts.

Doors on the new Jesmond branch are due to open on Thursday 1st April, but Robinson said it could be even earlier as the store refurbishment is currently ahead of schedule. On opening day, the first 250 bagels will be given away for free.