Bagful O' Bagels going strong after 18 years

By Laurie Gordon
Lisa and Rich Davies' dedication to their business, Bagful O' Bagels, has paid off. The business had been around for over 18 years and thrives because of their philosophy of making everything from scratch and excellent customer service. With the help from a lot of kids and an "extended family" they've found in their employees, Bagful O' Bagels is going strong and offers a great atmosphere for eat in or take out on the border of Sparta and Lafayette.
"Bagful" as it's affectionately called for short, has become famous for its crumb cake, delicious cheese danish, cinnamon buns, fudge brownies, Bagful Bark (with caramel and pretzels), cupcakes, chocolate drizzled butter cookies and of course, its bagels, all of which are made from scratch on the premises. Bagful O' Bagels offers a full deli and grill menu as well as chicken fingers, cheese steak, fries and wraps..It is also highly applauded for its omelettes, pancakes and French toast.
The Bagful Beginning
Rich Davies was a bagel roller for years before he met his wife, Lisa. "He hand rolled a thousand pounds of bagels a day including traveling to various bagel shops in NJ. A physically taxing craft to expect to continue for years on end," Lisa Davies said. "It made sense to give it a whirl at rolling his own bagels, for one store, in one place."
Rich Davies grew up in Lafayette, and Lisa Davies said, "His parents live here and were instrumental in helping us then, and always. We were looking to purchase equipment to begin the process of opening our own store. This shop had been a bagel store but had been closed for some time. We were definitely interested in the equipment but necessarily the location. We moved on to the next step of finding a building but that process proved futile. We were pressed to get up and running so went back where the equipment was and with lots of elbow grease would become Bagful O' Bagels." That was 1999.
Lisa said the business grew at a very slow pace. "It had been a shop that went out of business. The building runs sideways along the highway causing a visibility issue and we were new business owners plugging away and learning as we went along. Eighteen years later we're still plugging away and still learning."
Bagful Booms
The last five years or so the strip mall in which Bagful O' Bagels has, in Lisa Davies' words, "Finally been blessed to be fully occupied with other great, hard-working business owners which has undoubtedly helped our exposure. Garret at North Jersey MMA, Jason at Exervole, Master Kim's Martial Arts and most recently Marie and Debbie from The Village Mane Salon relocated right next to us. We are lucky to have them all as our neighbors."
Bagful O' Bagels prides itself on making everything from scratch. "Consumers have different wants, likes and expectations when it comes to their food," Lisa said. "They have dozens of choices within any radius of where they live and work to buy their breakfast or lunch. They may need quick and inexpensive to fit their lifestyles and having that option is a great thing. We've expanded on the 'quick' to give them another option. Some people don't have the time to boil their own potatoes for potato salad, bake a loaf of bread before making a sandwich or put together an entire crumb cake from scratch . We do that for those people who want homemade but don't have the time."
The owners' dedication also sets them apart. They're open 361 days of the year. "Rich or I, or sometimes both of us are here every day," Lisa Davies said. "We really aren't familiar with whats offered at similar business around us because we're just here doing our thing and then we go home and before you know it we're back again. Our customers could better answer that question and we would hope that they would say things like..the food is good, we're friendly, the store is colorful and inviting, and that they come back because of all of that wrapped together."
Bagful O' Bagls started making their own pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas several years ago. Lisa said, "Thanksgiving pies are Pumpkin, Apple Caramel and Apple Cranberry with crust tops and Apple Crumb topped with the same crumb we use for our crumb cake which we've been told is pretty awesome." Anyone interested in ordering can call the store and place an order at 973-579-9121.
Lisa said, "Rich married me with five children who were under the age of 10 and we then had two more together. All of that happened in the first two years of opening the store back in 1999." She added, "Throughout the years every one of our kids have or still do whatever they can to help us. It doesn't appear that any of them want to carry on the family business, but that is way off in the future. They have and always will be the reason we unlock that door every morning. They are outstanding individuals with great work ethics from growing up in the business. We are very small staffed but the few kids who work for us remain our extended family. They too are some of the most reliable hard working young people we've ever known. Everyone at Bagful is family."
When it comes to catering, Bagful offers a Bakery Platter with assorted muffins, crumb cake and pastries served with butter and jelly. Their Party Bagel is a giant hand-rolled bagel filled with fresh, sliced cold cuts, topped with lettuce and tomato and sliced into 32 pieces. It's served with mayo, mustard and Russian, honey mustard and Italian dressings. The Sandwich Platter is 15 assorted sandwiches stuffed with fresh, sliced Thumann's cold cuts served with lettuce and tomato on fresh baked bagels and homemade rolls. It's served on a platter with all the fixings. Bagful also offers foot-long subs and homemade salads.
Bagful O' Bagels is located at 11 Route 15, in Lafayette on the Sparta border. They are open Monday through Friday from 5 am to 2:50 pm, on Saturday from 7 am to 2:50 pm and on Sunday from 8 am to 2:50 pm. Find Bagful O' Bagels on Facebook for information and specials. To order, for information, or to reserve one of their regionally-famous pies, call 973-579-9121. Visit www.bagfulobagels.net for full menus.