10 Questions With: Wes Thompson from Little Bagel Co.
After a trip to New York, and plenty of lockdown recipe testing, Wes Thompson opened Little Bagel Co. Known for its delicious special edition fillings, perfectly baked bagels, and for being Marco Pierre White’s favourite bagel spot in the UK, Little Bagel Co. has gone from strength to strength since opening in 2022.
Beyond bagels, Wes also places employee wellbeing at the heart of the business. Through great staff training and understanding his employees’ needs, Wes has built a talented team at Little Bagel Co. They also do a pretty great cup of coffee.
In our Q&A, Wes tells us where to get a bagel in New York, how he got Bristiolians on board with untoasted bagels, and whether he’d snog, marry, or avoid a bagel, croissant or crumpet… this is proper journalism.
1. How did Little Bagel Co. start out?
I started LBC like nearly all new food businesses, due to COVID. My (now) wife hates bananas so whilst the banana bread craze was in full flow I decided to teach myself to make bagels after a trip to New York the previous autumn. I am glad that I had so much time to get the recipe right because the first twenty batches were no doubt terrible!
The UK has such a weird relationship with bagels, I haven't met one person who doesn't love them but all of their love and memories are from supermarket bagels. I wanted to see if I could get the Bristol public to wrap their head around an untoasted bagel! I managed to convince Bex (our General Manager at Queens Road) and my business partner and best friend Tom, and the rest is history!
2. Marco Pierre White recently declared Little Bagel Co. the best bagel in the UK - congrats! Tell us - what's Marco Pierre White's bagel order?!
To be honest, he seems to have a new favourite each time we give him a new one! Marco really loved the Elvis (peanut butter and banana) with bacon and chilli honey. This is one of our less popular bagels so it really caught us out that he loved it so much! He also really loved our Salmon Lox and our Reuben. Marco had never had Russian Dressing (this is a sauce similar to thousand island dressing but way better) and he asked to try it by itself, it feels somewhat surreal to think that my recipe for Russian Dressing is now his benchmark for the sauce. His support and kind words have been a real highlight for me and my business partner Tom.
3. Over half your menu is vegan. Where else does great vegan food in Bristol?
I really rate Koocha, I live around the corner from them and their vegan doner kebab is fantastic. Whilst I was setting up LBC I worked at Bristol Loaf part time and their vegan cardamom knots were so delicious, especially for vegan pastry. Also, I can't knock the value and size of Eat-a-Pitta, I always struggle to finish even a medium! I am not vegan myself but I feel that people really respond to vegan food when it is not trying to be something it isn't. You don't have to eat fake processed meat for it to be delicious, it just takes a little care with a few vegan substitutions and you can make some really amazing food.
4. What's the most underrated bagel filling on the menu?
In the US, their bagel culture is a lot more focused on retail bagels and different flavours of schmear (Cream Cheese) whilst here in the UK we are a lot more sandwich focused. I would recommend anyone to try an Everything Bagel with Spring Onion cream cheese, ideally a bagel still hot from the oven. It is so simple but packs so much flavour, the perfect way to start any day.
5. Little Bagel Co. is inspired by New York style bagels. In your opinion, where's the best place to get a bagel in New York?
A few months before I opened LBC I went with my wife to New York to do as much research as possible. Utopia Bagels, Liberty Bagels, Ess-a-Bagels were all great and I loved the salmon from Russ & Daughters. My fave place (not a bagel) was Katz Deli. The atmosphere, the pastrami, the whole vibe and legacy of the place is unmatched and one of the main reasons I desperately wanted to get Reuben on the menu.
6. Snog, marry, avoid - bagel, crumpet, croissant?
No doubt marry bagel. I eat them everyday and I still love them like the first one. I think I would snog croissant as they're a bit more exciting than crumpet, a bit more exotic. Don't get me wrong I do love a crumpet, I would feel guilty about avoiding the crumpet.
7. You're known for making some pretty epic limited edition bagel fillings - what's been your favourite special so far?
I think my favourite special was the Turkey Club because it is one of the only ones that has jumped to our main menu and stayed there. We bought too much turkey one Christmas, so we decided that we would find out if people would still eat turkey in January. I had about two hours to come up with something so I turned to the classics with the thinking of 'who doesn't love a club?' Turns out everyone still LOVES turkey and they love Club Sandwiches! It was our biggest seller that month!
8. You even have your own coffee blend. What makes Little Bagel Co. coffee so great?
Our coffee is roasted by my old manager at Extract, Callum (Fire & Flow). When I started LBC I told him that I wanted something that would satisfy your classic coffee drinkers but with a little bit of speciality magic in there. The blend he came back with is the one we are using now, we still get so many compliments on it. Everyone who makes the coffee at LBC has extensive experience or we have really taken our time to show them exactly how we want our coffee to be. The market is so saturated now and everyone has that little less cash in their pocket, if you do decide to buy a coffee it has to be perfect!
9. Little Bagel Co prioritises employee wellbeing, with fair wages, work-life balance, and more. What's the key to creating a great team?
I think so much comes down to the hiring process - we respect the people who work here and what we do, and we want the staff to feel the same way. This country has always been terrible for making people who work in hospitality feel like they should be doing something 'proper' and I am on a personal mission to make sure that the people who work at LBC know that this can be a career. I have also always hired the best people and tried to work around their needs rather than the other way around. This flexibility - whilst it makes writing a rota a lot more difficult - means we have a lot of staff who are really qualified and talented. We've got a people who have owned their own cafes, ran their own kitchens, and you can really tell by the quality of the food and the service.
10. Where's one place in Bristol you've been dying to try?
It was GiGi’s but I finally got to go last week and the hype is real! Rapha has done a great job and I am so happy to have some top notch New York slices in Bristol. Also really keen to try out Ragu and Lapin, absolutely incredible that they have both had such amazing reviews from Grace Dent recently, shows that Bristol is still absolutely a food destination in this country.
Interviewed by food editor of the Everyday Magazine, Beth Lane
