We've been following (and cheering) alongside Jeff Perera, owner of JeffsBagelRun since its inception last year. This Horizon West-based business owner and busy father of 4 has seen huge success and become a home-grown hit with residents of all ages. Jeff took a break from the kitchen to chat with us about what inspired him to begin baking bagels and how he's turned his delivery service into a must-have for residents, having sold over 50,000 bagels to date! Here's what Jeff had to say... How long has Jeff's Bagel Run been open? We sold our first bagel on November 11, 2019. Only about 9 months! We just surpassed the 50,000 bagels sold mark! What sparked the inspiration for a bagel company? My wife, Danielle, and I, love bagels and we were traveling to East Orlando for a decent bagel. When my wife and I moved to Horizon West in 2016 we began our search to find a good bagel. This was not only hard to do, but nearly impossible. The closest bagel we found was on the other side of town. This wasn’t going to work for us. After talking to friends and neighbors in our community we found it wasn’t just us who were looking for the chewy deliciousness of an old world, New York style bagel. Why did you choose bagels? It’s my wife Danielle’s favorite food. Period. And what husband doesn’t want to make his wife happy?! What flavors do you offer? We do it all! Plain, Everything, Cinnamon Raisin, Salt, Asiago, Sesame, Onion, Garlic and Poppy! We also make sure to drop a little surprise in when we can. Our "Little Emmies" are bagel holes named after our daughter and something really special to us. Do you have a background in the food industry? My background is actually in retail leadership. I spent over 25 years leading teams for major retailers including Target, Apple, Adidas and The North Face. In 2018 I made a transition to work in senior living as a VP of sales and operations. A restructuring in 2019 resulted in my layoff giving me the opportunity to stay home with the kids and learn how to bake bagels. What makes your bagels unique? We decided to take matters into our own hands. I became a student – reading, watching, and listening to anything related to bagels. Then I got baking. I baked a lot of bagels. A LOT of bagels! My bagels are small batch, there’s only 5 ingredients. Additionally, I hand-roll each bagel so there’s a lot of love in there. New York style bagels have a distinct chewiness and texture, to achieve this I boil them prior to baking. How do you connect with your consumers? While I maintain a pretty traditional menu I have been dabbling a little bit recently, creating a rainbow bagel for pride month in June and experimenting with different flavors to see what’s the appetite of bagel lovers in Horizon West. What are you doing when you're not baking bagels? I have four kids so I'm about as busy as it gets! In my free time, I love to run and I participate in a lot of local marathons. I read and watch reality tv in my downtime so I can recharge for early mornings in the kitchen. What are your plans for the future? Slow and steady is the name of the game. We are thrilled with how warmly Horizon West has welcomed Jeff's Bagel Run and are happy with things right where they are. My primary role is as a dad so I want to embrace that as much as possible.