Born-and-raised Red Deerians Zakk and Kortney Waschuk have opened up a new bagel shop after two years of planning.
The married couple opened Booyah Bagels on Aug. 14 in the city's Capstone neighbourhood. Since its opening, the business has sold hundreds of bagels every day — the shop is often completely sold out of its freshly-made bagels by 11 a.m. or noon.
"The public has been amazing. We're so grateful with how it's been received. We can't keep up (with the demand), but we're doing our best," said Zakk.
"We're currently making about 700 bagels a day — we want to up that because there's quite a demand. Now we're just waiting on some more equipment and training a few more staff so we can be more efficient."
After graduating from the business program at Red Deer Polytechnic, the Waschuks both knew they wanted to start a business together.
"We weren't really sure what that business would be, but looking at what Red Deer didn't have, a bagel shop was one of them — we both missed the Great Canadian Bagel we used to have at the Village Mall," said Kortney.
The only snag with their plan of opening up a bagel shop was that the two didn't know too much about baking.
"We were like, 'How hard can it be?' Well, we found out it was very hard. I think we went through the first five pages of Google looking for recipes, but it wasn't working out," Kortney said with a laugh.
"We were ready to give up on the dream, but one night I was scrolling through Instagram saw a New York Times article on a lady who was a bagel expert consultant in New York who helps people open bagel shops. I sent her an email and the next thing you know we were flying to New York and learning recipes from her."
Zakk and Kortney say they viewed Capstone as the perfect home for Booyah Bagels.
"About a year ago we were ready to roll (and open the business). But we heard this building was coming in and we were really excited about this location," said Zakk.
"The waiting game was the right move. As much as we wanted to get going at the time, I think the best thing for us was to find our feet and have more time to plan everything out."
Kortney added: "Capstone has a buzz and an energy to it that really attracted us."
A design company out of Calgary helped craft the business' appearance, which has a late-1980s or early 1990s look to it.
"We wanted a shop that had a nostalgic feel. It's got a Miami, new-wave vibe to it, combined with the look of a food court," she said.
"We had a lot of awesome people helping us out. ... We love all the little details. Even our garbage can is designed to look like a bagel with cream cheese smeared on top."
Kortney said it's special to open up a business in their hometown.
"Red Deer is a city, but feels like a small town still. We're already starting to see regulars, which is crazy considering we've only been open for a couple weeks," she said.
"It's always been a place we knew we wanted to stay. We explored a little bit and worked out of town, but we've decided we want to stay here. It's cool to put our roots down and start the business."
Booyah Bagels, located at 5441 45 St., opens at 7 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and at 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For more information on the business, visit www.booyahbagels.ca.