Meet Tim Shaeffer | Co-Founder Best Coast Bagels

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

Hi Tim, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
We lived in San Diego for years and couldn’t find a bagel that was the style and quality that we were used to on the East Coast so we decided to figure out how to make them the way we wanted them.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
At Best Coast Bagels we make bagels the way they should be made, hand rolled, boiled and then baked. It took us a long time to get our style or rolling, the size of the finished bagel and the texture of both the inside and outside of the bagel right but after 1000s of bagels we finally have the hang of it. That’s not to say we’ve mastered it by any means but it’s a product we’re really happy about and excited to continue to improve upon. Nothing about the bagel industry is easy, except for eating the bagels. You’re in the kitchen before some people have even gone to bed, you’re on your feet, moving heavy dough, doing endless dishes and when you’re making a product as high quality and labor intensive as ours is the way we make it, it is at times hard to compete from a price standpoint with those who are making bagels with a machine and steaming them. Some of these challenges are things that are simply part of the business we’re in but we’ve made them easier to deal with through hard work, determination and just doing. I think we see many companies just wait until everything is perfect but something we’ve learned is things will never be perfect and much of the time the hardest part is just getting started. Once you’ve started you will figure out where you’re going if you don’t quit.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
1. I’d say start the day with a bagel and a coffee, Best Coast Bagels has bagels every weekend at Surf Lounge and Vigilante Coffee; 2. While you’re waiting for the marine layer to burn off, go on an urban hike through Balboa Park and hit the 7 bridges that go in and around Balboa park Bankers Hill and the south side of the park;
3. Now that you’ve worked up an appetite again, you could hit a brunch in Liberty Station at Fig Tree or The Presley;
4. Hit the beach in Pacific Beach and roll straight to Lahaina Beach House and grab a drink;
5. Now that you’ve got a little liquid courage rent a surfboard from right next door at Pacific Beach Surf shop.
6. only a few short blocks away you can hit dozens of bars like The Local, or Mavricks or for a sunset Waterbar.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Our friends and families. It took a lot of convincing from them for us to believe that we actually had a great product that should be taken to the public. Then when we did start selling bagels to anyone who wanted them our wives frequently jumped in and helped in every possible way from doing dishes, to collecting money, to recruiting more help they did it all and we truly could not have kept going as long as we have without them.

Website: https://bestcoastbagelco.com/

Instagram: @bestcoastbagels

Image Credits
Steve McCheesy