In a tiny apartment kitchen, only a few days after finding out we would soon become parents, we almost burnt down our home because we tried baking bagels on a sheet pan lined with wax paper. It was the winter of 2017, Matty looked me in the eyes and told me he was going to make bagels; I will be the first to say he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. We had both worked in the hospitality industry for years, but baking bread was a totally different, completely untouched world. Our venture began with lots of learning and lots of failures, but nonetheless, we quickly began rolling thousands of bagels - just the two of us. 12am start times found us at one of Calgary's beloved breakfast diners, Diner Deluxe, where we rented the back kitchen and baked our bagels in the wood fired oven. Bagel Daze, then called "Beygl Daze" was gaining momentum and our product was selling out within hours of hitting the shelves. A thin, dense, imperfect bagel, with a sweet doughy taste is where we began, just like a traditional Montreal style bagel. These bagels then morphed into a thing of their own alongside lots of research, trials and errors, and many "ah-ha" moments. We had a great thing going, and we continued that great thing as our first son, Murrell (named after the Great John Murrell), joined our family. He would sleep soundly in the carrier on my back as we would roll countless bagels in the early hours of the morning. One incredible year of being parents passed by, and we learned that our family was going to expand once again. It was then we knew our business needed to do the same, or we needed to make the tough decision to back away from it all. After inquiring a space for lease, we trusted our gut and knew it was time to back away. Always trust your gut, because not long after that decision was made, 2020 and all the mayhem that was packed into that year (and the years proceeding) happened. We jumped ship, like, really jumped ship. We found ourselves on a Caribbean island where our now three kids, drank from coconuts and bathed in the salty ocean; and Bagel Daze was resurrected under majestic palm trees, once again. We road the wave of Island Bagels for a good while until our hearts called us home to our family back in Alberta. We weren't really quite sure where our path was headed, but in the words of the bagel maker himself, he was determined to "never roll another bagel again." So, that option seemed out of reach. Well, never say never folks, because after much humming and hawing, Bagel Daze returned in May of 2024, a few months after finding out our 4th kiddo would be joining us. Bagels and babies just seem to go hand in hand for us. For the better part of the the year, we made lots of bagels, and lots of sandwiches out of a local cafe. With little room to grow where we were, we took a leap and built a micro bakery in our home. In a few months time, and countless hours put in behind the scenes - we became a  licensed commercial kitchen in the spring of 2025. We knew that in order to reach our dream of Bagel Daze Bagel House, we needed to venture off on our own and build from the bottom up.  So here we are, and do we ever feel blessed to be in this moment. We are right in the middle of this really neat bagel story - with many more chapters that we anticipate are still ahead. Thank you for being here with us, for contributing to our beautiful family and the passion we have of rolling bread day after day.