PopUp Bagels Opens in Westfield

NJ Local Business Spotlight — PopUp Bagels has officially arrived in New Jersey, and it picked Westfield for its grand debut. The Connecticut-born bagel brand — backed by celebrity investors like Paul Rudd, JJ Watt, and Michael Phelps — opened its first Garden State location at 220 South Avenue West on July 10, 2026, right next to the Westfield NJ Transit train station. If you’ve seen the lines in New York or caught the hype on TikTok, this is your chance to try it without crossing the Hudson.

PopUp Bagels isn’t your traditional bagel shop. There are no sandwiches, no slicing, and no toasting. Instead, the brand’s signature move is called “Grip, Rip and Dip”: hot, whole bagels straight from the oven, meant to be torn apart by hand and dipped into whipped schmears and flavored butters. It’s a different kind of bagel experience, one that’s turned a pandemic kitchen experiment into a nationally recognized brand now operating in 18 states. And the fact that it landed in Westfield, right in our own backyard, makes this one worth covering.

SEE OUR TOUR OF POPUP BAGELS in WESTFIELD

🥯 What Is PopUp Bagels?

PopUp Bagels was founded in 2020 by Adam Goldberg, who started baking bagels in his home kitchen in Westport, Connecticut during the pandemic. What began as a hobby — he’d originally been making sourdough before switching to bagels on a hot summer day — turned into a backyard pickup operation that sold out in seconds. Friends became subscribers, subscribers became a waitlist, and by 2021 the first brick-and-mortar opened in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The concept is deliberately simple. PopUp Bagels offers five bagel varieties — plain, salt, sesame, poppy seed, and everything — baked in small batches throughout the day. Fresh batches come out of the oven every five to ten minutes, so your bagels are always hot when they hit the bag. There are no breakfast sandwiches, no toasting, and no slicing. You pick your bagels (in packs of three, six, or twelve), choose your schmears, and dig in.

The brand has since grown to roughly 40 locations across 18 states and Washington, D.C. It launched a franchise program in 2024 and has attracted serious investor attention — including a reported $300 million valuation from Tiger Global in early 2026. Celebrity investors include Paul Rudd, JJ Watt, Michael Strahan, Michael Phelps, and Patrick Schwarzenegger, several of whom have actually worked shifts behind the counter at PopUp locations unannounced.

📋 What’s on the Menu

The menu at PopUp Bagels is intentionally compact — and that’s the point. Everything revolves around the bagel-and-schmear pairing. Here’s what you’ll find at the Westfield location.

💰 What It Costs

PopUp Bagels is a premium bagel experience, and the pricing reflects that. Every order includes schmear — there’s no “just a bagel” option. Here’s what to expect at the register.

The honest caveat: This is more expensive than your neighborhood bagel shop. A 3-pack with schmear runs roughly $4+ per bagel — compared to $1.50–$2.50 at most local spots. But PopUp’s argument is that the bagels are always hot, always fresh, and the schmear flavors rotate weekly. You’re paying for the experience as much as the bagel. Delivery through Uber Eats and DoorDash is available but runs roughly 20% higher than in-store pricing before fees.

📍 The Westfield Location

PopUp Bagels took over the 1,500-square-foot freestanding building at 220 South Avenue West that previously housed Westfield Seafood for decades. The location sits adjacent to the Westfield NJ Transit train station, making it a natural stop for commuters heading into Penn Station New York. It shares a shopping plaza with Manhattan Bagel — a detail that’s generated its own share of local commentary about the “Westfield bagel wars.”

The Westfield opening is the first of more than 25 planned PopUp Bagels locations across New Jersey, with Tenafly confirmed as the next site. The NJ expansion is being operated through a partnership with Just Pop, a Northeast-based franchise group. For context, PopUp Bagels will also benefit from the One Westfield Place mixed-use development coming to the area — a project adding 200,000 square feet of office space plus 205 residential units, which should bring significant foot traffic to South Avenue.

🏠 A New Jersey Homecoming

This opening carries extra weight because PopUp Bagels founder Adam Goldberg grew up in Livingston and Short Hills, New Jersey. Before the bagel business, Goldberg worked in flood mitigation — he had zero food industry experience. His wife Jen coined the “Grip, Rip and Dip” phrase after watching customers tear into bagels in their cars in the parking lot. The brand has earned two consecutive Brooklyn Bagelfest “Best Bagel” awards, and the tagline — “Not Famous But Known” — has become a signature part of the brand identity.

Goldberg now serves as Chief Brand Officer, with CEO duties handled by Tory Bartlett, formerly of Moe’s Southwest Grill and Schlotzsky’s. The company has raised more than $35 million in funding and aims to reach 100 locations by the end of 2027.

🗺️ Your First Visit — What to Know

PopUp Bagels is a slightly different experience than walking into your local bagel shop. Here’s what to expect on your first trip to the Westfield location.

🏡 Why We Spotlight PopUp Bagels

The Michael Martinetti Group’s office is at 1 Elm Street in Westfield, about a five-minute walk from the new PopUp Bagels location. When a nationally recognized food brand chooses your town for its first New Jersey location, that says something about the community’s draw. Westfield’s downtown has consistently attracted quality restaurants, independent shops, and new concepts precisely because the foot traffic, commuter base, and neighborhood support are there.

We spotlight local businesses because the things that make a town worth living in — walkable downtowns, great food, an active business scene — are the same things that drive real estate value. Every new opening like this reinforces what we tell buyers who are relocating from New York City: towns like Westfield aren’t just suburbs. They’re communities with their own identity, their own food culture, and their own energy.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

📚 Related Resources

For more on living in Westfield, our comprehensive Westfield town guide covers schools, commute times, neighborhoods, and market data. Nearby town guides include Scotch Plains, Cranford, Clark, Summit, and Union Township.

If you’re researching the commute from Union County into Manhattan, see our NJ Commute Times to NYC guide and our roundup of the best NJ towns close to NYC for a broader view of commuter-friendly communities.

For more on the local food scene, check out our guides to the best BYOB restaurants in New Jersey and NJ’s best waterfront dining. And to explore more local businesses across the state, browse our growing NJ Local Business Spotlight series.

The Michael Martinetti Group | Keller Williams Premier Properties · 1 Elm Street, Westfield, NJ 07090 · 1716 E 2nd Street, Scotch Plains, NJ 07076 · 1-855-I-SELL-NJ · Members of GSMLS, NJMLS, MoreMLS, ALLJersey MLS, Hudson MLS, Bright MLS · This post is part of the NJ Local Business Spotlight series. The Michael Martinetti Group has no financial relationship with PopUp Bagels. This content is for informational purposes only. Menu items, pricing, hours, and availability may change — visit popupbagels.com for the most current information.