Siegel’s Bagels celebrates 35 years of Montréal-style bagels in Vancouver

When Joel Siegel first moved to Vancouver from Montréal in the 1970s, he thought to himself, “Where are the bagels?”

“They had these bagels that were bread with a hole in them,” Siegel said. “It was like a bun.”

Thus began the story of Siegel’s Bagels, and now they are celebrating 35 years of business in Kitsilano.

Loyal customers are drawn to the authentic Montréal-style bagels that are hand-rolled and boiled in honey water for a sweeter dough.

Siegel says what makes his bagels stand out is a unique wood-burning oven that you won’t see at any other bagel shop in Vancouver. He says he brought in someone from Montréal to get it custom-made.

“I built the oven without having a permit, not knowing I had to have a permit for that,” he told CityNews. “We were about one week from completion; we had someone come in and put a stop-work on it. I said, ‘go ahead, don’t stop,’ and then I went and got a permit.”

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Loyal customers say they are drawn to the authentic bagels.

“When he first opened up the business here, I thought, oh my goodness, I was waiting for something like that to happen, to have Montréal bagels in Vancouver,” one customer said.

The celebration also comes on Siegel’s 89th birthday. He is now happily retired and living on Salt Spring Island, with his daughter Parise Siegel holding down the family business.

“Actually, I didn’t want to, to be honest; I was on a completely different career path,” co-owner Parise said.

“I started working here in university and I ended up loving it.”

Now with locations in Kitsilano and on Granville Island, the beloved business hopes to continue serving bagel lovers in Vancouver for decades to come.

“It’s very gratifying that 35 years ago, I didn’t even know if I’d make it for a month,” Siegel said.

“Now, 35 years later, we have hundreds of customers.”