Nagel’s is a comfy place to concentrate and work, as well as a great place to get some incredible food from! I asked Kelly Nagel, co-owner and chief marketing officer for Nagel’s Bagels, a few questions to get some insight on their day-to-day business and their involvement with the people of Cartersville!

What events/activities do you support at Cartersville High School? 

With Cartersville Highschool we usually support the areas where our employees that go to Cartersville are involved! For example when we had an employee in band we would support the band and we currently have an employee in the football program so we probably will throw some support there. We also really like to support the teachers in general and leadership programs and the areas where our kids are doing some extracurricular activities especially involved with the community. 

How does Nagle’s Bagels give back to the community? 

We do give by to the community, our main gifts involve food. We like to help the hungry in Cartersville and Bartow County. Along those lines we support good neighbor homeless shelter, live 2540, and other organizations that are feeding people. We do that through donations of money and donations of leftover bagels. 

How has your time as a shop/store been in terms of business? 

Our time as a business has had it’s ups and downs, but we have loved Cartersville! It is a wonderful community and we wouldn’t change it in any way, but with any business especially restaurants, there have been some lean times where we have struggled and there have been some great times. We’ve even made mistakes before for sure but overall we have been so welcome in Cartersville! People have been so gracious with us especially when we have made mistakes and helping us make that right and things like that. Running any business, especially a restaurant, is hard and you have to rely on people walking in your door and hope that you make a really great product that people want to enjoy. 

How would you describe the atmosphere at Nagle’s Bagels? 

We have amazing customers who do come in the door, the people when they do come in the door usually have a tendency to say that the environment feels very warm and welcoming and that is on purpose. We have specifically designed our space to seem warm and welcoming, we want people to come and enjoy their time there, enjoy their food, and enjoy just hanging out with friends or family and just you know be whether it is that they are working, having a meeting, or relaxing before or after work or school or something like that. We work really hard to have excellent customer service and to make everyone feel cared for, and seen, and welcomed as well as providing them with excellent food and excellent product. 

Are there any ways you’d like to give back to the community that isn’t already happening? 

As we look toward the future and as we grow we would love to increase our community outreach and the ways we give back to the community, whether that’s that we partner more directly with a local nonprofit, or even create our own, but all of that would be centered around feeding people and ending hunger and ending food insecurity with our community. 

Is there anything that you want people to know about Nagel’s Bagels? 

I think the thing that I would like everyone know about Nagel’s Bagels, and I think people know but just want to make sure, is that we’re a family business that my husband Rich (co-owner and main baker) started this business four or five years ago and one of our daughters helps run it as the operations manager at the shop. This wasn’t something that was passed down and this isn’t a franchise we bought, we created this business from scratch based on lots of factors being that our last name is Nagel and that rhymes with bagel and that’s kind of a cool coincidence that we also make really good bagels and we love to be able to do that and share that with everyone around us!