DoughCo Bagels is the brainchild of Josh Small, and has grown to include his brother, Jacob, as well. The brothers grew up loving all kinds of food, especially any loaded with carbs. When Josh went off to play college baseball at Carleton College, two years later, Jacob joined in on the fun. DoughCo Bagels was born out of Josh’s extended stays in the Midwest during undergraduate and graduate studies where he struggled to find a quality bagel.
How did he fix this problem? By teaching himself the art of bagel making! Upon moving back to New York to start a corporate job in venture capital, Josh discovered that by bringing his bagels to his soccer/baseball games, he received honest feedback from self-described “bagel enthusiasts” that accelerated the bagel recipe (and friendships as well).
In the Summer of 2022 while still working full-time, Josh launched DoughCo Bagels with the goal of serving the New York Metropolitan area through farmer’s markets and pop ups. Seeing
the potential in the business and in his brother, Jacob started helping out on the weekends. In January of 2023, after months of community support, Josh went full-time on DoughCo to reach
more eager bagel enthusiasts and grow the company to its full potential. What started off as just an apartment project, led to bagels part-time, and now has become a growing business that
includes almost 10 employees for over 14 farmer’s markets/week. The brothers are now hand making over 4,000 bagels every week and are moving into wholesale!
In the summer of 2024, after working two years in private equity, Jacob decided to join DoughCo full-time. No more helping on the weekends for free! It’s bagel time! The bagels are
baked only hours before each event to ensure their freshness and crispy exterior. The secret? It’s the malt! From early interactions, Josh discovered that by milling his own locally grown malt, a key bagel ingredient, the bagels differentiated themselves through their freshness, crust, and taste. Based on popular demand, we now have a preorder system and have expanded into catering work events and group celebrations.The two are poised to take the NY bagel scene by storm. Stay tuned for more growth and bagels!
