Florida Southern’s Tutu’s Cybercafe began serving New York style bagels from Uncle Nick’s a locally owned business this past Monday.
The shop was started by cousins Nick and Ken DeBellis who were born and raised in New York. Uncle Nick, the father of the owner Nick Jr., owned a deli of his own in New York and now mentors the owners of Uncle Nick’s. They currently own three Lakeland locations and one Bradenton location.
“Uncle Nick approached us, he came by with his business parter,” Ricardo Figueroa, Multi-Unit Manager with guest services said. “They made a pitch to us, and we love the bagels and we thought the students would love the bagels so we thought it would be worth a shot, and it’s been a smashing success.”
Monday, the first day the bagels were served at Tutu’s, a variety of six dozen bagels were brought to Tutu’s but sold out within the first hour. Three dozens were then provided later in the day.
“I feel like everyone I’ve spoken to is intrigued and excited for some variety,” Tutu’s employee Vanessa Shahin said. “Plus it always feels good to receive products from a local place.”
Flavors include cinnamon raisin, everything, plain, and whole wheat. There will be other options in the coming weeks. While the bagels are not being upcharged at the moment, there will be a 25 cent increase in the near future.
“The bagels are bigger and more expensive for us than the cheaper bagels we’d gotten before, so we have to charge more, but it’s reasonable,” Figueroa said.
So far, the everything bagels have been the most popular as they’ve sold out the quickest in the past two days.
“The everything bagel was my favorite by far,” junior Rhiannon Bush said. “I had only been to Uncle Nick’s once before, but I had a really good experience. There were a bunch of posters around Tutu’s on Friday and the entirety of Tutu’s imploded. The old bagels they had were just okay, the quality of Uncle Nick’s is infinitely better.”
Tutu’s now plans to carry 12 dozen bagels each morning on a first come, first serve basis. Figueroa also hopes to order enough bagels within reason to keep the shelves stocked throughout the morning until about lunch.
