Images: Say Cheese Social / Alex van de Loo
Adelaide’s love affair with bagels is about to spread further east, with local favourite Frankly Bagels preparing to open its third store in Kent Town.
The business, owned by Christie Wilkinson and her partner Jack Crichton, will open at 2-4 King William Street Kent Town, bringing its popular bagel-and-coffee offering to a new community.
Like its Prospect and Norwood stores, Frankly Bagels’ Kent Town branch will be located on the ground floor of a new apartment development taking shape at the site.
An exact opening date is yet to be confirmed, however the team is estimating a mid-September opening, pending the completion of the building’s fit-out.
“It’s a whole new space that people are going to live, work and cohabit in, so we wanted to be part of that new community that’s being built in Kent Town,” Christie said.
“It’s also very much within our demographic of people and customers who are part of our existing communities.
The expansion comes six years after their first store in Prospect opened and three years after they opened their Norwood store, with Christie saying that Adelaide’s demand for bagels is continuing to grow.
“Norwood has continually been getting busier, and we’ve definitely noticed with our Prospect store as well that it’s very consistent and that customer base is continuing to grow.”
The idea for the business came after the couple travelled through England and Europe, where bagels were already a familiar part of the morning routine.
At the time, Adelaide had relatively few dedicated bagel spots.
“I think there were maybe one or two places that did it, but it wasn’t really a known thing,” Christie says.
“I had to explain what a bagel was quite a few times when we first opened.”
Six years later, Adelaide appears to have answered with a resounding yes.
“It has been really nice to see. The response has been amazing,” Christie said.
Christie believes part of that success comes from the way Adelaide’s café culture has evolved.
“I think it’s a combination of people making different choices when they’re going out for brunch or lunch,” she said.
“They might not want to go to a traditional café and sit down for an hour. They might want to quickly grab something on their way through.
“They’re also choosing to hang out with their friends and pair it with taking a walk or going to Pilates. Those habits are forming around how people consume café culture.”
That grab-and-go model was actually shaped by necessity when Frankly Bagels first opened in 2020.
Christie and Jack had signed the lease for their Prospect store just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, forcing the fledgling business to rethink how it would operate before it had even opened its doors.
“That’s why we really navigated towards the takeaway model. It’s been a blessing, really, to have that forced upon us because it refined what you do with your Frankly Bagels. You get it, take it away and enjoy it.”
All of Frankly Bagels’ bagels are currently made at its Norwood bakery, which was established as the business grew beyond what its original setup could handle.
But the next step could be even bigger, with Frankly Bagels looking at a southern Adelaide location that would house another bagel bakery alongside a café.
“In terms of our capacity for making bagels, our Norwood bakery is quite under the pump with how many bagels it can make and how many we’re putting through that bakery system,” Christie said.
“We’re looking at a new location in the south of Adelaide that can become another bagel bakery. It will increase the production side of our business while also having a café front.”
For now, though, the focus is on getting the doors open in Kent Town.
“We’re not too sure what the next steps for the business will be after that, but we know that first things first, you have to have a product to put out to the community,” Christie said.
“We need to make more bagels. That’s step one.”
Frankly Bagels
When: Opening mid-September
Where: 2-4 King William Street, Kent Town
To find out more, click here.
