Turning a Simple Bagel Into a Premium Experience with Tom Selementi of Spread Bagelry

Welcome to another edition of Give and Ovation, the Restaurant Guest Experience Podcast. I'm your host, Zach Oates, and each week I chat with industry experts to uncover their strategies and tactics to help you create a five-star guest experience. This podcast is powered by Ovation, the AI feedback and operations platform built for multi-unit restaurants. Learn what's actually happening in your restaurant and exactly how to improve while driving revenue.

Learn more at ovationup.com. And today I'm really excited because we have Tom Selimenti with us. And did I get your last name right?

Perfect. There we go. That's my Jersey roots coming out of here. Tommy.

There you go. And by the way, did you grow up? Were you a Tommy Selimenti growing up? No, no.

My dad was Tommy. So we steered clear of Tommy. I said, call me Tom. He's Tommy.

I gotta be honest. If I met a guy named Tommy Salimenti, I'd probably steer clear of them too, man. Because that's uh, you know they're packing some heat, or at least they got some cousins who got some heat. So that's probably right.

Dad has more presence than I do, at least in those type of circles for sure. Well, uh, Tom, I'm really excited to have you on, not just because I love talking Jersey and he's a fellow Jersey boy, but because he's the CEO of Spread Bageler. He also has been in the food business for so long, and he's no uh newbie here to breakfast. He was the COO of Bluestone Lane, and you've just had a whole amazing career in the FD industry.

And so, what I want to do is I want to dive into this with you, understand a little bit more about why spread bagelry, what the room is, and how you compete in this crowded market and your thoughts on guest experience. Because when you look at bagels, it's like, man, that's a really competitive industry, and there's a lot of people in there. And like you and I were talking right before we hit record that there's a bagel shop that I like to go to, and it's not like an amazing bagel shop, but it's the one that I've always gone to.

And so it's hard for me to switch. And so when you look at spread and you look at what you're doing, why do you think spread is working? And by the way, I know you're growing really quickly. Last I checked, you had what 17 locations in four states, or are you?

Yeah, no, that's exactly right. 17 locations, four states, and a growth plan through 2028 to more than double that. But spread's differentiating factor. Why spread?

Bagelry, wood fired bagels, right? The old deck oven in New Jersey, uh, New Jersey bagels, five tiers. The the wood fired gives you a little crispier exterior, chewyer interior. It's a delicious bagel, but we are the home of the standard, the bacon, bacon cheese, the best breakfast sandwich in the business.

It's two folded eggs, thick cut bacon that's uh smoked for 18 hours, and then we use Cooper Sharp on there. It's a big, hardy breakfast sandwich, and uh that's our real differentiator. Um, there's a breakfast sandwich at pretty much every fast food place, almost every bagel shop you can get a bacon, egg, and cheese at. A lot of time it's a fried egg, a couple thin slices of bacon, and a slice of American cheese.

Ours is much different than that. We're occupying the premium space for uh bagel slash breakfast sandwich operator. And I love that because you look at something like a bacon, egg, and cheese, and it's like, yeah, PB and J, right? But the fact that you could own that and the fact that you could make that a real differentiator is powerful because there's people who are like, man, if I'm gonna spend my calories, especially now that we've got this crazy cocktail of tough economy and Ozempic, which is like those two things combined means that I'm not usually buying expensive 1200 calorie sandwiches.

Yeah, but if I'm gonna do it, I want it to be the best. It better be good, right? And you're having all of those premium ingredients on a wood fired bagel, it is truly an experience. Like you said, bagel is a habit, right?

It's nostalgia. We've got to be your everyday, right? So spread bagel reopens at 6 a.m.

every day. We're not trying to capture a tourist a part. We want to be it the community that we serve. We're your everyday space.

We're open at 6 a.m. That's for teachers, that's for contractors, that's for people that work in hospitals, like nurses, doctors, and um, we're really leaning into the communities that we serve. And uh growing up in North Jersey, there's a bagel shop in every community, and some have two, but the rest of the United States, that's not the case, right?

So, as you said, the bagel space is getting pretty competitive right now. Yeah, that's true, and agree with that. And and I think a lot of people are seeing what we're seeing that people want a great breakfast sandwich, and a bagel does translate across many different markets, and where spread differentiates is we're gonna be wood fired always, and that bacon, egg, and cheese is the best in the business. And we also have many other ways that you can top a bagel.

But I think that just that principle of sometimes you may not need to reinvent the wheel, just make a better wheel. And that's the whole concept when you look at what can restaurants do to differentiate. Really think about taking like your best menu item and how do you make it even better? How do you elevate that, right?

Yeah, that's right. And more to that is the experience, right? So, a way a restaurant differentiates from another restaurant, another bagel shop, is how does it make you feel when you go in there? How does the team make you feel?

How's the entire experience? The experience at spread bagelry is one of you know, you're gonna get greeted as soon as you walk in the door, people are in uniform, they're gonna make it fast, right? But they're making it to order. These are not sandwiches that are sitting under a heat lamp.

We can make a standard, which is the bacon, egg, and cheese in 45 seconds because we uh about on the flat top at spread. So in the morning and lunch, I really believe and we believe it's spread speed is hospitality as well. The worst thing someone's gonna say at breakfast, if your breakfast sandwich comes out really fast, is wow, that was fast. That's it.

The best thing they're gonna say is, man, I'll I'll see you tomorrow. Yeah, right? Yeah, because now they have a lot of trust in you. And where a lot of brands miss on breakfast and lunch, is they undervalue the person at the counter's time.

And we really value it. We know that you're in a hurry and we're gonna get it to you fast. But if you want to dine in, you can do that. We're gonna serve it on a plate for you.

And if you're taking it to go, you'll get it in the brown bag. So we do have a lot of differentiators at spread bag or and we're leaning into those, not to say, hey, look how different we are, just saying, yeah, we're a little bit more premium offering than the predecessors in the space. Yeah, I love that. And I think that you got to have that hospitality because it's not like in New York, you could open up an average shop, and if you're in a good location, you know, you could afford $40,000 a month rent, you know, but most people can't.

Like I remember I went to I went to a bagel shop one time with someone who had never been to a New York bagel shop. He gets up to the front of the line, and obviously, you know, we I mean the line is like out the door, it is moving, it's a constant slow walk, right? Because it's just boom, boom, boom. He gets up to the front of the line, and this is what he does.

He goes, So uh, what's good here? Only only New Yorker can will laugh the way I exactly. You got you got me on that that punch line there, right? And there's people in Michigan right now listening, they're like, wait, what's funny?

What's wrong with yeah, that's that's a perfectly logical question. Yeah, exactly. But it's like there, yeah, I mean, he sent him to the back of the line. And then he was like, Oh, no, no, I'll just order.

And so he panicked, and he's like, I'll get a everything bagel with strawberry cream cheese. And the guy was like, Oh man, I'm not gonna. He goes, I'm not gonna get it. And so now you're back.

Now you're back. You can't come back till tomorrow. But it's just so funny that you know, it's like people don't get that, and and you can do that outside, but when you're trying to be that community restaurant, you got to make sure you have that connection with it. You gotta make sure that you have that heart because that's what it's all about.

And so as you think about the guest experience, Tom, what do you think is the most important aspect of guest experience nowadays? COVID changed everything when it comes to breakfast, lunch, guest experience. People changed their habits a lot with COVID, right? They started to value their time together more so, right?

Less so on like, hey, we're gonna get to together for dinner and spend three hours. Now it's, hey, we're gonna spend 30 minutes for lunch, get a coffee, and this. So again, I'm gonna lean into speed and really a company, a hospitality group restaurant company, they put themselves into the guest shoes and are able to do that with every employee in the business and help them understand. Hey, the person that just walked in the door, okay, just had to find parking for seven minutes, right?

They have an appointment that they're already late for, okay? And they're trying to now get something into their stomachs as quickly as possible. Don't do anything but give them your undivided attention and do it as quickly as possible, right? So the I'm having a conversation with somebody else on the team, or oh, I'm let me just finish this phone order, that kind of stuff infuriates people at this point, right?

If I walk into a restaurant and the hosts, if it's a full service restaurant, is talking to a guest on the phone, they've got it all wrong. There's AI that can have that exact conversation right now. Have your host greet and get them to the table as soon as possible. If the person that is supposed to be taking the orders in a quick service environment is bagging up to go orders, they're doing the wrong job.

You have somebody else that needs to be doing that because the job that is guest facing is the most important in the business, and they are controlling how the public views your brand. Yeah. I think that's so powerful. I think about going into a pizza joint, and I waited in line for like probably 30 minutes, and this is supposed to be like a very fast pizza joint, and I get up to the front of the line, and this is what happened.

Can I take your order? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I was greeted with the with the hey, wait.

Finger. And I'm like, where I'm from, like, that's more rude than the other finger. I'm here. Like, treat me like I drove here.

I spent the time to wait in this line, and I felt so unseen at that moment that it took me like two years before I went back to that brand. And that's not a Zach only response. That's everybody now, right? Our time is so valuable.

That person was solving their problem at the moment. I'm so busy that I can't give you the proper attention. I am doing everything I can to spend my hard-earned money in this establishment, and you won't let me do it. I'll have these conversations on the baseball field with other parents, and uh, but it also in the boardrooms, you know what I mean?

And this is the the ultimate problem to solve. And at spread, we are just leaning into hospitality, execution, speed. Hospitality, execution, speed. And are there any any tactics that you've seen in your career that have that have helped to improve the guest experience?

Yeah, look, I'm I'm an a more is more type of person, right? So so not a not unless it's let me write this down. If more is more, more is more, right? So more is more hours of operation, extend them.

Don't look at your when your times uh when you're slow are and say, hey, I got to close earlier or open later. Go for it and staff it to win, right? When you have the busiest period that you have, don't say I can't fit any other people here or any other folks, and we're fully staffed. Think about putting someone outside to greet people that are on the line, right?

And say, Hey, I'm sorry about the wait, but here's a little piece of bagel for you that just came out of the oven. You can always do more to grow that top line, but the way that you do it is make the experience great, make the experience memorable. Yeah, I love that. And I love this whole the word that I keep hearing from you is experience.

And that's what's required nowadays, is an experience. If you are just pushing a product, look, unless you are lucky enough to be in a spot where you've got a captive audience and there's nowhere else they can go, then you gotta be thinking about the experience of the guest, and not just in terms of making it good, but making it memorable, which I love how you mentioned that. Yeah, no, thank you. The experience economy is a book that came out in the 90s.

And what they talked about was that people are spending less money on products and more money on experiences, right? So and their analogy that they start the book with is a birthday, kid's birthday, right? Years ago, your mother bought flour, sugar, eggs, milk, and baked you a cake, right? Then a move to you bought the cake at ShopRite or whatever your supermarket of choice is.

Then it's oh, we go to this place for the birthday party, and now it's this massive event where they're jumping on trampolines and this, and the cake is just a little side piece of it, right? I don't know what your birthday parties were like growing up, but growing up, they were very small. And now every birthday party is an event, and and we look at running restaurants is what's the experience when people want it. Yeah, and realizing that those expectations have shifted, and you could fight it or you could embrace it and win.

So I love that. Well, Tom, who's someone that we should be following? Who's someone who deserves an ovation? Yeah, so now you mentioned Bluestone earlier, and the COO that is there now, Matt Christie, is just probably the best operator I've ever worked with.

And I work with a lot of great operators I do now at Spread and other places. And Matt is somebody who has taken a situation in Bluestone Lane that is a tough place to reach the expectations because it's premium, it's Australian seller cafe, it's cook to order, it's premium coffee, it's a lot of things. And he's really gotten his team to buy into his operational vision and has kept experience top of mind. Someone who's going to do great things, he's already doing great things, COO of Bluestone Lane, clearly, but Matt Christie's career is going to be long and fantastic, and somebody that I think you should look at.

And Bluestone Lane as a brand is something that I uh is still very close to. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Tom, how do people find and follow Spread Bagelery and you?

Yeah, Spread Bagelery, we're in the Northeast, we're in Philadelphia, right? Uh in 13 locations here in the Philadelphia area. We're in the southeast as well, Savannah, Charleston, Mount Pleasant. We just entered to Atlanta, and our growth is primarily going to be in those two places that spread.

But you can find us on Instagram, you can find us on TikTok, you can Google Spread Bakery and find the closest location to you. We can get to you through DoorDash Uber Eats, but we really love to for you to come into our restaurants. Try us 6 a.m.

open 6 a.m. everywhere, and we're out there winning the morning and we're winning your weekend too. Love it.

Well, uh, Mr. Tom Celimenti for reminding us that bacon, egg, and cheese can be a differentiator. Today's ovation goes to you. Thank you for joining us on Given Ovation.

Thank you, Zach. Let's see it. Thanks for joining us today. If you like this episode, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite place to listen.

We're all about feedback here. Again, this episode was sponsored by Ovation, a two-question SMS-based, actionable guest feedback platform built for multi-unit restaurants. If you'd like to learn how we can help you measure and create a better guest experience, visit us at ovationup.com.