Larah Bross has pulled off a bit of a coup by recruiting one of our own Scottish superstars as an ambassador for her special brand of bagels.
This should not really surprise anyone who has watched her brand grow from little more than an idea to bring bagels to the Scots, to the current set up where the latest opening is in St James Quarter.
The pair have now had a business relationship for a while. Larah explained: “I wrote him an email. He and I know some people in common from my theatre background. His name always comes up you know, being a Scottish actor.
“So I thought if we wanted to have a Scottish celebrity associated with us that he would be great – the perfect bagel wrap for us and our brand.
“So I wrote him an email and he answered it. I had said I wanted to do a collaboration with him.
“So he said that next time he was in Edinburgh he would come and see me. We had a back and forth about what we would put in the bagel and what it was going to be. He was going to come in for a tasting.
“I had been told I would have half an hour with him, and we ended up hanging and chatting for like a couple of hours. We have a lot in common and know similar people. He is a really genuine, nice guy and I ended up hitting it off with him.”
Then came the business negotiations, and it got even better.
Larah continued: “I wanted to make it permanent, and he was up for that. The next time I went to NY I met up with him to see what the future would be and he decided he would take up a non-exec visionary role – which is cool….
“It is in development so we don’t know exactly what it means yet. I think he is going to rep bagels and we are going to keep changing it up so we always have something named after him on the menu.”
Alan is a vegan and the first bagel named in his honour was the Holesome Cumming (put two funny people together and you get loads of puns).
And now Larah is in New York for the Tartan Day Parade and will meet up with Alan to host a brunch. She said: “We will be able to do things like this when I go to New York and have fun at the club.” The pair are hosting a brunch on Sunday complete with cabaret, music – and bagels.
And yes Larah was air shipping the bagels from Scotland for the event.
As to her future plans she is considering franchising which is definitely “on the horizon”.
She said: “The brand is there the company is there but we have also just gone through a pandemic like everyone else. So we have to futurise this and think about how this is going to work.
“I am basically running this as an independent business at the moment and that is a lot. I have two kids, there is a staffing crisis, an energy crisis. But franchising is what we are looking towards.”
And of course being Larah she spoke to Dan Rowe of Five Guys one of the largest franchises and “chatted to him to work out how Bross can grow globally”.
But truthfully this is more than just a bagel shop. She declares somewhat playfully that it is really a “cult”.
And she is looking forward to walking down Sixth Avenue with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society who are also in New York for a few days.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
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