There is something wonderfully comforting about a proper NYC-style bagel. The warm flaky crust, giving way to a dense, chewy interior that demands a serious schmear of your favourite toppings, all wrapped up in the gentle caress of the smell that fills a room. For years, finding that exact slice of Americana in Cambridge has been a pursuit of quiet desperation.

Enter Bridge Bagels.

Founded by the dynamic trio of Ryan Walter, Lauren Robarts, and Rossella Cavalluzzo, Bridge Bagels is a startup bringing authentic, kettle-boiled, hand-rolled bagels straight to the city. But this isn’t just another food venture; it is a story rooted in transatlantic traditions, multi-generational baking heritage, and a genuine passion for our community.

I spoke with the team behind Bridge Bagels, a home operation running freshly made bagels in Cambridge daily for collection and delivery with the grand mission of bringing proper bagels to the Brits, alongside ambitions to open one shop first, followed by a production facility, and eventually expanding nationally and beyond.

Follow their Instagram page to keep up to date here

A Transatlantic Tradition and Local Baking Royalty

For Lauren, the love affair with bagels started early. Growing up just outside of Washington, D.C. in Maryland, her Saturday mornings were spent with her father at Bagel City on Rockville Pike.

“We’d each have a poppyseed bagel with schmear, loaded with so much schmear we’d scrape about half of it off,” Lauren shares. “Then we’d each end up eating a second bagel out of the dozen we had to take home…He taught me a great trick, too, of folding the paper plate into a funnel to pour the fallen poppy seeds on top of the schmear – something I still do to this day, 30+ years later”. Every single week, it was accompanied by a mock-serious family debate over whether they were actually hungry enough to eat that second bagel – even though they literally did every single time.

After living in Rome for six years and falling in love with a food system centred on fresh, local, affordable produce, Lauren moved to Cambridge in 2015 after meeting her husband, Leo. As it turns out, she married into local baking royalty. Leo’s parents set up Nadia’s Patisserie in the late 1980s, a beloved Cambridge institution for roughly 20 years, while his paternal grandfather ran Tyler’s – a business bought by Leo’s great-grandfather after saving up his career earnings as a train conductor. Today, Lauren is proud to represent the fourth generation of the Robarts family to run a Cambridge baking business, with hopes that Bridge Bagels might eventually involve her and Ryan’s children as the fifth generation.

From Maryland Roots to Mill Road

Ryan grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, surrounded by incredible bagel culture. Before bringing that passion across the Atlantic, he founded and built Compost Crew, which grew into the largest composting business on the US East Coast and recycled nearly 40 million pounds of food scraps. That background instilled in him a lasting drive for enterprises that actively enrich the communities they serve.

Ryan moved to Cambridge with his British wife to pursue postgraduate study at the University of Cambridge, eventually settling beside Mill Road Cemetery. When he noticed a glaring absence of proper bagel shops in the city, a visiting friend pushed him to test the waters. He put up a simple site and shared it with a few communities, resulting in an explosive response: 100 sign-ups in two days, and over 400 soon after for a business that hadn’t even officially opened.

“It feels like sharing a gift with our neighbours, and I don’t take that responsibility lightly,” Ryan says. “We are laser-focused on delivering great bagels to Cambridge and won’t stop until we do”.

The Power of Teamwork and Tradition

Rounding out the team is Rossella Cavalluzzo, a Milan-native and marketing professional currently studying for an MSc at Anglia Ruskin University. Bringing nearly a decade of industry experience working with major international brands like Bialetti, Vinted, Dove, and Wizz Air, Rossella is driving the strategy behind building a brand anchored in authenticity, quality, and community connection.

While Ryan leads business development, strategy, and finance, and Rossella handles marketing and brand growth, Lauren splits her time behind the screen and the hands-on craft of actual production – embracing her love for people after a decade of desk-bound work. Ryan’s own entrepreneurial background also runs deep, with parents and grandparents who were business owners in car shipping and oil.

The Real Deal: Hand-Rolled and Kettle-Boiled

So, what actually separates an authentic New York bagel from what’s currently available?

According to the team, true NYC-style bagels are hand-rolled, boiled in water with barley malt syrup, baked, and served so fresh you don’t even need to toast them. Recreating that magic in Cambridge means sourcing top-quality flour as close to home as possible, alongside essential NYC elements like specific yeasts and barley malt. They are even navigating the age-old debate over whether the legendary “NYC water” is a myth, relying heavily on their earliest customers – many of whom grew up on the US East Coast – to help dial in the ultimate batch through rigorous survey feedback.

What’s Next for Bridge Bagels?

The team is launching pre-orders for half-dozens and baker’s dozens (13 bagels) with schmear, alongside pop-ups selling ready-to-eat variations. While they plan to keep things streamlined before expanding into full sandwiches, vegetarian options will naturally be a mainstay, and they are actively looking into how they might eventually tackle gluten-free options without cross-contamination.

Following their initial online public launch, the vision includes expanding into a larger commercial space around Cambridge that they can grow into, eventually paving the way for a permanent city-centre shop that is fully cycle-accessible.

With their waitlist fast approaching 1,000 people, Cambridge is more than ready for them. Bridge Bagels are officially open for business – bringing warmth, community, and proper kettle-boiled craft to our doorstep.

Thanks for reading – and make sure to check out my visit on our Instagram page.