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Joel Bundy is getting out of the bagel business.
The owner of Bundy's Bagels—whose boiled bagels WW voted the best in Portland in a blind taste test last year—is closing down his Hawthorne food cart after four years and entering what he calls "the next phase of life."
Related: Every Boiled Bagel in Portland, Ranked.
"I kinda hit a point where it was expand or close down," Bundy says. "I hit that point and I was sitting back, thinking about it, and I haven't actually had a life in five years."
Bundy effectively stumbled into bagelmaking. One day, he was sitting around, bored, and typed into Google: "what should you do when you're bored." Google suggested he try cooking or baking. He typed, "what should i cook or bake," and bagels came up.
Nine years later, he opened Bundy's Bagels. But while he loved the bagelmaking process—he calls it "therapeutic"—Bundy says the stress of keeping the cart going was beginning to wear on him.
"I kept going with the business because everyone told me it wouldn't work," he says. "That was driving force most of the time. 'Keep giving me negative vibes, I love it.' But now, I've already proved it worked. I could expand if I wanted to, but want to go to something different."
Bundy isn't yet sure what "something different" entails. He still enjoys making bagels, and has mulled over potentially starting a workshop if he can find a place to host him.
Meanwhile, the cart, located in a small pod at 1421 SE 33rd Ave., will keep regular hours for another week. After Oct. 7, the business will only be open weekends, until Bundy finds another job or someone to buy the cart off him—whichever comes first.