14 | MAY 28 • 2020 

 Bagel Boys
To The Rescue

Teen-run delivery service provides bagels, lox and fresh produce to
community members while giving back to workers on the front lines.

I

n early January, tragedy 
struck the local bagel scene 
when The Bagel Factory 
Cafe closed its Birmingham 
location. 
Three Birmingham teens 
decided then to create a delivery 
service to help satisfy the bagel 
cravings of those throughout 
the surrounding area. Thus 
began Bagel Boys Delivery 
Service.
Temple Israel members Ethan 
Marcus, 16, and his brother 
Mason, 13, started the compa-
ny with their friend Jonathan 
Cloutier, 16, by partnering with 
The Bagel Factory’
s location 
in Southfield to bring bagels 
to those who used to go to 
the Birmingham location. 
The Bagel Factory located in 
Southfield is strictly for order-
ing takeout. 
Previously, the location in 
Southfield, The Bagel Factory 
Cafe in Troy and the location 
formally in Birmingham were 
all under the same manage-
ment. The management then 
decided to sell the Troy and 
Birmingham location before the 
Birmingham store closed.
The location in Troy and 
Birmingham have “cafe” added 
to the end simply because they 
offer seating for those who 
would like to sit and enjoy 

their bagel.
The boys began by fulfilling 
orders for some of their family 
members to ensure they were 
up for the task. After the trial 
run was complete, they built 
their own website, created order 
forms and were open for busi-
ness. 
Now, faced with the challeng-
es of the coronavirus pandemic 
impacting businesses around 
the area, the boys pushed for-
ward with 
their business 
to make sure 
that members 
of the com-
munity who 
wanted bagels 
could still 
support a local 
business with-
out leaving 
their homes.
“On every 
delivery, we wear gloves. We 
don’
t wear masks on the deliv-
ery, only when we enter the 
bagel factory, simply because we 
don’
t come in contact with peo-
ple when we make a delivery,
” 
Ethan said. “We text them to let 
them know their order has been 
delivered.
”
Their business has experi-
enced exponential growth. They 
started off with just six cus-

tomers but continued to watch 
their delivery numbers increase. 
They wound up with 260 deliv-
eries to make on Sunday, May 
10: Mother’
s Day, the ultimate 
bagel-brunch holiday.
The Bagel Boys currently 
make deliveries to Birmingham, 
Beverly Hills, Bingham Farms, 
Franklin, Bloomfield Township, 
Bloomfield Hills, West 
Bloomfield, Farmington Hills 
and Royal Oak.
Orders can 
be placed 
through their 
website and 
must be com-
plete before 
Saturday at 1 
p.m. so they 
can ensure 
delivery on 
Sunday. If the 
order is placed 
after the cutoff 
time, the delivery will simply 
take place the following Sunday.
Customers have a choice 
from over 28 different bagel fla-
vors and a multitude of different 
types and sizes of cream cheese. 
The boys now also offer sliced 
nova lox from Acme Smoked 
Fish, and customers can also 
have either a fruit box or veggie 
box delivered from Leonardo’
s 
Produce in Detroit.

“Our goal as a company 
right now is to help limit the 
amount of people who need 
to go to the stores right now,” 
Jonathan said. “We want to 
help give them the food they 
need without having to leave 
the house so often.”
Since the beginning of the 
pandemic, the boys decided 
to donate 10% of their por-
tions to Beaumont Hospital 
in Royal Oak. They have also 
delivered hundreds of bagels 
to the staff at the hospital, 
courtesy of members of the 
community who placed those 
orders.
“Once the COVID pan-
demic started, we wanted to 
give back to our community 
who was fighting on the front 
lines,” Jonathan said. “We 
just sent them a donation of 
$1,130.37 and approximately 
four weeks ago we made a 
donation of $209.”
While it may be cheesy, there 
is no denying that the Bagel 
Boys Delivery Service has been 
a hole-in-one for the local com-
munity and to those working 
on the front lines during the 
COVID-19 pandemic. 

If you or someone you know would like 
to purchase an order of bagels, you 
can head to http://bagelboysdelivery-
service.com for more information.

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

“We wanted to
give back to
our community
on the front 
lines.”

— JONATHAN CLOUTIER

Jews in the D

