[Bagel Battle Brewing] 101 Bagel Cafe Enters Busy East Cobb Market

A growing bagel business is entering East Cobb.  101 Bagel Cafe has secured the onetime Baskin-Robbins at 4811 Lower Roswell Road for its latest location.  The new bagel shop will open alongside My Emergency Dental (previously Sage Dental) and Papa John's in a freestanding building near the corner of Lower Roswell and Johnson Ferry Roads.  Longtime residents (and ToNeTo Atlanta readers) will recall that the building all three businesses occupy was previously a Blockbuster Video.  

Restaurant owner Tony Yang was originally a franchisee of Florida-based The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel near Cumberland Mall.  Yang opened the Brooklyn bagel eatery in 2012 at Akers Mill Square before ditching the franchise and flipping the restaurant to 101 Bagel Cafe, his own concept, in 2018.  In early 2019, Yang added a second location at the District at Duluth, a multi-family mid-rise along Buford Highway in Duluth.  The East Cobb outpost will get to take advantage of an existing outdoor patio but will likely have limited interior seating given that at 1,480 square feet, it's less than half the size of the Akers Mill outpost, and just over half the size of the Duluth restaurant.  

Unlike their existing locations in Cumberland and Duluth, the new East Cobb bagel shop enters an incredibly competitive bagel market.  Local favorite Bagelicious has held court in nearby Market Plaza shopping center for more than three decades and has a tremendously loyal following in the community.  Goldbergs Fine Foods, which operates several locations in metro Atlanta, also has a location close to the upcoming 101 Bagel Cafe.  

Despite the loyal following and frequent accolades including Creative Loafing which called Bagelicious “an authentic New York deli experience in Atlanta,” 101 Bagel Cafe claims "No other bagel cafe in Atlanta can compete because we are voted #1 Best Bagels by Bagel Lovers like You." [It's unclear who "voted" and what the criteria were.] 

The menu at 101, similar to those at Bagelicious and Goldbergs, will be centered on bagels but will also feature melts, wraps, omelettes, hashbrown bowls and assorted deli sandwiches.  

The new East Cobb 101 Bagel Cafe is slated to open by September and could be followed by a fourth location in Dunwoody.  According to the restaurant's website, future growth is likely to be by way of franchising which the company has started to offer.  

101 Bagel Cafe is one of several new and upcoming eateries in East Cobb.  

Across Lower Roswell from the upcoming bagel shop, Flying Biscuit Cafe opened their newest location in the Kroger-anchored Parkaire Landing shopping center this past March and a new Gusto! is expected to open in an outparcel of the center later this fall.  In the Bagelicious center, Christos, a new iteration of the popular Greek restaurant previously known as Kouzina Christos, is expected to open in the coming days.  

What is your favorite bagel in Atlanta?  What  metro Atlanta neighborhood do you think is most in need of a bagel shop?  What other types of restaurants would you like to see open in East Cobb?

Please share your thoughts below.