We had the good fortune of connecting with Michael Rabinowitz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi michael, do you have a budget? how do you think about personal finances?
I retired after 32 years as a research chemist then VP in Pharma. Got bored quickly and was looking for something totally different and challenging to do. Im from NY and grew up with a certain bagel culture that that I did not find in San Diego, so I decided to give it a shot and start my own bagel business.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am not a baker. But I do consider myself a bagel (and bialy) maker. I have no training in cooking or baking per se. But the interesting thing is that my professional education and career in organic chemistry allowed me to adapt quickly to the commercial bakery kitchen and recipe development. In organic “bench” chemistry you learn from the very start to carefully control and record all procedures, temperatures, times, humidity, stirring rates etc and all that I applied to recipe development at home however using only high quality ingredients to make our bagels. They are vegan. (I have HUNDREDS of pages of notes and recipes I recorded during the recipe development phase!)

The most important lesson I learned along the way is that it takes a village. Really. Absolutely no way I could have progressed this far without the help of scores of people, family, friends, expersts.

The goal has always been to bring simple honest NY-style bagels to San Diego like the ones I grew up with in NY and then expand that to the larger NY Bagel Shop fare of fresh bagels, bialys etc along with housemade cream cheese and vegan spreads, smoked fish and hot “BEC” sandwiches. Nothing fancy and like exotic open faced gourmet sandwiches like you’d find in LA, just hearty comfort food. No sweet bagels will be offered–bagels are not a pastry. I like to joke “If you wouldnt put it on a pizza, it shouldnt go in a bagel”. While we will continue to have an extensive online sales presence as before, we will most definitely NOT be a place that only sells bags of bagels and cream cheese to go. Marigold Bagels will be a place in a community (North Park) for San Diegans to gather, order sandwiches and/or bagels and deli goods to stay or to go. And a place that will host community events when possible.

So, the Marigold Brand? Authentic, old school bagel shop– New York soul with San Diego heart.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Definitely go to Ponyboy at the Pearl hotel in Point Loma first for their happy hour than stay for dinner. I know the folks there but most importantly the food is great and the vibe is super cool Mid-Century Americana.

Drinks definitely Realm of the 52 Remedies followed by sushi with chef TJ at Matoi. Love that place. My Tokyo-raised foodie pal says its the best Edo-style omakase hes had in the US. And he lived in NY for a decade!

More drinks at Part Time Lover for some cool tunes and great cocktails.

Definitely Birria at Birria el Rey in Golden Hill or Ed Fernandez in South Bay.

My favorite beach is Coronado. We take bikes (rentals if needed) and cruise around the marina to the Coronado Ferry and take it to the bay side of Coronado and loop around the golf course to the ocean side. After hanging out on the beautiful sands of Coronado I’d follow it with drinks and apps at The Bower and hopefully catch the sunset from their rooftop bar.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Lots of help here that i could not have come this far without. Support from my family (my brother was trained at culinary school, my sister in law a professional accountant) and great support from my sister and niece who promoted the bagels to others. A whole group–too many to name–of taste testers who helped me get to the final Marigold Bagel recipe I now use (about 50 were tried!)

SBDC and Shawn Lynam. Absolutely could not have approached any of the complex business issues I had to face and learn. Plus Shawn is a great guy!

Accessity who worked hard to get me a startup loan.

Courtney for helping me along at the beginning with her advice on social media and other marketing concerns.

Ron and the folks over at Mission Valley Farmers Market who helped me get my start with direct sales.

San Diego Magazine for selecting Marigold Bagels as critics choice for Best Bagel in San Diego , the very first year they included that category.

Last but perhaps most importantly, Sade Renee!!! My lovely, loyal customer at Civita Park Market who was such a fan, she posted a TikTok video in Fall 2024 that went viral and drove my customer base through the roof!

Website: https://marigoldbagels.com

Instagram: @marigoldbagels @betterlivingthroughbagels

Image Credits
marigold bagels

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