October 16, 2008 Issue
Business Spotlight
Mountain Bagels—Made From Scratch Bagels And A ‘Hole’ Lot More
Story by Sam Calhoun
Working seven days per week, sometimes 15 hours per day, Elie and Joan Saade can tell you everything you want to know about their restaurant Mountain Bagels, located at 211 Boone Heights Drive in Boone, but a few key attributes stick out—the way the bagels are made, the restaurant’s sanitation score and the restaurant’s customer service.
Since opening on July 30, 2007, Mountain Bagels remains the only restaurant or bagelry in the High Country where the bagels are made from scratch every morning. What’s more, the restaurant boasts a sanitation rating of 100.5, and its customer service is always a top priority.
“We’ve gotten to a point with some customers that when we see their car parking [in our parking lot], we start their order,” said Elie, who owns Mountain Bagels with his wife Joan.
As another example, one of the Saades’ customers came in and asked why they didn’t put garlic on both sides of the garlic bagels. The next day, Elie made the change when he arrived to start cooking the bagels at 4:30 a.m. The customer came in that day, purchased a garlic bagel and then went home. At home, the customer realized Elie had made the change based on her suggestion and she called to thank him.
“We are always happy to respond to customers’ needs. And we can respond to customers’ needs because we are not a chain; we don’t have to go through a corporate office to make changes,” explained Elie.
Mountain Bagels is home to 21 varieties of homemade bagels and plenty of bagel spreads, but that’s just part of their offerings. The restaurant also serves coffee, cappuccino, espresso, hot chocolate, tea, cold beverages, soup, chili, cold and hot sandwiches, salads, Mediterranean specialties, homemade chicken, tuna and egg salad, muffins, cinnamon rolls, cookies, brownies, croissants, scones and traditional breakfast platters that include bacon, sausage, ham and eggs. Elie, Joan and five employees—some of whom are family members—operate the 50-seat restaurant.
“We are still the only bagel bakery that cooks from scratch in the High Country, and don’t forget about our famous sweet baked goods,” added Elie.
Elie and Joan are from Long Island, N.Y., and moved to the High Country in March 2006. In New York, Elie worked in information technology sales and consulting, and Joan was a social worker. Eating in New York, said Elie, often centers on bagels. The couple and their friends ate bagels for a meal at least three times per week and always had bagels around the house.
The Saades love bagels and the High Country, so two years ago they decided to combine their two loves and start a business.
“We always wanted to open up a restaurant,” said Joan.
While living in New York, the Saades took four trips to the High Country for vacation and fell in love with the area. They thought of Boone first when deciding where to relocate to start their first business, although they did check out other locales in western North Carolina.
“We liked Boone because it was small, yet had a vibrant population,” said Joan.
Although the couple loves bagels, they had never made any from scratch until they decided to open Mountain Bagels. To learn, they hired a consultant who grew up making bagels. The 85-year-old consultant showed the Saades how to make bagels the old-fashioned way. Elie makes the bagels himself every morning at Mountain Bagels.
Elie and Joan wanted Mountain Bagels to be more than just a bagelry, though. They wanted the restaurant to also have a deli feel, so they added salads, traditional sandwiches and Mediterranean specialties that use the flavors and ingredients of Elie’s native Lebanon.
“We also wanted to introduce the community to Lebanese food,” said Elie, who is planning on bringing meat kabobs back to the menu on special nights.
The combination of a bagelry and a deli seems to work as the business is packed with locals, business people and visitors daily. But the customers are not only coming for the food; they are also coming for the service, ambiance, cleanliness, practices and amenities.
Mountain Bagels features a perfect sanitation score, wireless Internet for customers and extremely fast service, even when busy, said Joan. Although not required, Mountain Bagels puts recycling bins out for customers. The Saades also produce their homemade food in small batches to minimize waste and assure freshness. Whatever the Saades don’t sell goes straight to the Hunger and Health Coalition in Boone.
“We try to make this a comfortable place, quiet, where people can come and relax, have business meetings,” said Joan.
After a year in business, the Saades are very happy with their adopted home, despite having to overcome a bit of a learning curve.
“No one told us about the region’s flow or flux in population year round. We had to learn on our own,” said Joan. “We learned not to overstaff, but how to have enough people to keep the business going. We learned how to cut back on things when they aren’t moving.”
“We love it here, though. Our plan is to stick around,” added Elie. “Folks are even asking us to open another restaurant in Banner Elk.
Mountain Bagels is located at 211 Boone Heights Drive in Boone. The restaurant is open from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, click to www.mountainbagels.com or call 828-265-4141.
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