PopUp Bagels, FOMO and the viral restaurant hype cycle

Just an hour after PopUp Bagels’ grand opening, the line of customers stretched nearly to Brewdog Atlanta, with hundreds waiting to “grip, rip and dip” the bagels that first built a following in Connecticut in 2020.

Packs of people continued to gather throughout the weekend while Atlantans investigated the shiny new attraction shipped directly from New York City.

It drew a sharp contrast against the regular flow of customers headed to locally founded bagel shop Emerald City Bagels, whose storefront is just a few hundred feet away.

Outrageous lines, waves of videos from influencers and the overall chatter about this escalating bagel battle all highlight an enduring shift in the restaurant ecosystem, where internet virality can influence the tides in an already competitive industry.

PopUp Bagels was founded in 2020 as a pandemic side hustle by Adam Goldberg, who made and sold bagels out of his kitchen and pop-ups near his home in Connecticut. Since then, it has grown in popularity and earned millions of dollars in funding and investments, according to trade publication Nation’s Restaurant News.

It now has 25 locations in the United States, and Atlanta will be its Southeast hub with five locations already planned for Georgia.

The Eastside Beltline happened to be its first opening Feb. 6 in a prime location within the Krog District and close to local shop Emerald City Bagels, which opened a second location on the Beltline in 2024.