Firefly Bagels at Katy’s Cafe
Firefly Bagels at Katy’s Cafe
Falen Whipple brings a taste of the city to downtown Ellicottville
Just like mass transit, skyscrapers, and a vibrant nightlife, fresh bagels are synonymous with big city living and one of the foods Cattaraugus County native Falen Whipple recognized was missing from the Southern Tier food scene. “Bagels are definitely a thing in big cities,” she noted, “especially in New York. When I moved back here last year, I discovered that there really isn’t a source for homemade, fresh bagels within 100 miles!”
Until now, that is. Not only has Whipple opened her own bagel shop in Olean, but Katy’s Café in Ellicottville has recently added Firefly Bagels to the menu and is providing a Saturday pick-up option for special orders.
Whipple was born and raised in Cattaraugus County and at the age of 18 moved to Palm Coast, Florida. “At the age of 22, life led me to New York City,” she said. “I lived there and worked in restaurants for six years. Then, I moved to Miami where I started my spray tanning company.” A passionate entrepreneur, Whipple took her apartment-based business to the highest level and opened a studio on South Beach where she bronzed multiple models and celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Ellie Goulding, and Kate Upton, to name a few.
Last year, the Covid-19 pandemic brought Whipple home to a simpler, more relaxed pace. “I started making bagels out of my mom’s kitchen for myself while in the process of buying a house,” Whipple recalled. “I went to New York City and came back with bagels, and everyone went crazy. I thought, ‘maybe there’s a market here!’”
Soon, Whipple began experimenting and tweaking dozens of bagel recipes until she found just the right bagel she could market. She put some photos on Facebook and jokingly posted, “If you want any, send me a message!” That week, she made over 500 bagels, and the business took off from there. Orders from texts, Facebook, and Instagram began pouring in weekly, and Whipple couldn’t keep up with the demand in her mom’s kitchen. She moved into Miller’s Farmer Market’s commercial kitchen, where she began taking preorders, averaging 500 bagels per week. “It was crazy,” she recalled. “I just couldn’t believe the response. I did take a couple months off, closed down, and asked myself if I wanted to make this a full-time business or move on.”
Fortunately for all, Whipple pursued the bagel-making business, and Firefly Bagels opened inside Olean’s Park N’ Shop at 1316 W. State St. on May 9th. Even before Whipple opened her brick-and-mortar business, she and Katy Arena, owner of Katy’s Café, had been talking about the possibility of a collaboration. Arena said, “I told her if you ever get to a place where you could supply us with bagels, I’d really be interested! These bagels are locally made, hand-rolled, and simply amazing. Nothing our distributors carry can touch them!”
So what exactly is the difference between a Firefly Bagel and a store-bought or fast-food variety? In Whipple’s words, time. “It takes two days to make our bagels,” she explained. “First, we make the dough, roll out the shape by hand, proof them, and then they go in the walk-in cooler where they sit for two days to get that good yeast-y flavor. Then we boil and bake them. It’s a process!”
High-quality ingredients are just as important to Whipple’s finished result, and this ideal carries over into all Firefly menu items, such as her homemade cream cheeses. Arena noted, “People are loving the bagels. I’m extremely happy with the product, which speaks for itself!” At Katy’s Cafe in Ellicottville, customers can choose from Firefly’s most popular varieties, including plain, cheddar jalapeno, everything, and currently blueberry, the latter of which will change weekly or monthly. Not only can customers order these bagels a la carte, but they can also be selected as the base for Katy’s breakfast sandwiches.
For those who can’t get enough, Arena and Whipple have made arrangements for Katy’s Café customers to place special preorders that can be picked up between 9:30 and 11:00am on Saturdays at the café. Firefly Bagels must be ordered in advance by Thursday at noon at https://www.fireflybaked.com/s/order and can be ordered in half dozen increments per flavor for Saturday pick-up. Customers can choose from 10 different flavors, including those on the Katy’s Café menu, as well as French toast, cinnamon raisin, onion, poppyseed, salt, and sesame. Why not order the bagel’s ultimate companion, cream cheese, too? All of Firefly Bagel’s signature flavored cream cheeses can be ordered by the pound or half pound, and with flavors like Fruity Pebbles, Nutella, mixed berry, bacon cheddar chive, black garlic dill and more, it’s hard to resist. Hand-rolled soft pretzels and chocolate chip cookies by the dozen, and plain cream cheeses are also available for pre-orders.
On Saturday, Whipple was excited to drop off the first batch of pre-orders at Katy’s Café and see, firsthand, customers’ responses. “It was wonderful,” she recalled. “Just seeing all the hard work come out, seeing bagels on plates in another restaurant - I’m emotional just talking about it!”
Firefly Bagels is the realization of a dream for Whipple, and for Arena, this collaboration is one of the things she loves most about being a small business owner in the Ellicottville area. “It’s so nice to work with another local company,” said Arena. “It’s been great! To serve something that people love, that you know is fresh and locally made is a great opportunity.”
See Firefly Bagel’s full selection of offerings and order online at fireflybagels.com or stop into Katy’s Café at 10 Washington St. in Ellicottville.