A local bagel company is counting on your votes to help them impress the queen.
Queen Latifah, that is.
The Baltimore-based Bottoms Up Bagels pop-up business, owned and operated by New Jersey natives Michelle Bond and Joan Kanner, recently announced it was selected as one of seven finalists from around the nation for the Lenovo Evolve Small Mentorship Contest.
The initiative is a partnership between Lenovo, a multi-national technology company, and the award-winning rapper, actress, singer and entrepreneur to provide aid and mentorship opportunities to minority and woman-owned small businesses across North America.
The contest will award three small businesses with $30,000 cash grants, $10,000 worth of Lenovo technology, and a mentorship session (and “an audience”) with Queen Latifah herself.
“For us, it’s very exciting to be acknowledged in this way,” said Bond, a Waverly resident. “It’s threefold — capital, technology and mentorship. Meeting Queen Latifah would be amazing. She’s a badass businesswoman who made it happen for herself, and it would be a fantastic opportunity to talk to her. When we look at what she’s done across so many fields, she’s always been someone we’ve looked up to.
“We really see this as an opportunity to put us on the map.”
Voting from the public for the contest will run through Monday, Jan. 16.
On Instagram, Bottoms Up Bagels — which was founded in 2015 and also goes by its initials of BUB — recently posted: “That’s right, your favorite old school, bagel-making, lox-curing, sandwich-crafting, puppet-mastering, skit-producing, order-remembering, day-bettering crew at Bottoms Up Bagels is ONE OF SEVEN finalists in the running for game-changing capital, technology and mentorship. … We know it’s a crazy time of year but we need you, folks. We humbly and boldly ask for your votes (every day between now and 1/16) to help push us over the finish line.”
On its website, BUB, which has been featured at the Pikesville, downtown and Waverly farmers’ markets, describes itself as a “small batch bagel shop, preparing handmade, authentic NJ style bagels (yes, we boil them), house cured lox and specialty cream cheeses.”
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last October, Queen Latifah, 52, who was born Dana Elaine Owens in Newark, New Jersey, said about the contest, “Being able to move the needle forward for small businesses [is what] it’s about. … It’s really about just trying to look for that business that really means it, you know? They really believe in what they’re doing. They’re committed to what [they’re] trying to do.”
Bond said she and Kanner have that level of commitment to BUB and its mission.
“It’s hard work with a lot of long hours and hard labor and small margins,” she said. “Plus, there’s a lot of competition out there. We’re making it all work, but every little bit helps.”
Bond said one of the reasons BUB has survived over the past seven years, even during the pandemic, is because “our attitude and service stand out. We come from the land of the bodega breakfast — quick and made-to-order.”
She said BUB’s handmade bagels are a favorite among many customers. “We do them old-school style — dense, chewy bagels with that nice crust on the outside,” Bond said. “It’s a chewier bagel.”
To vote in the Lenovo Evolve Small Mentorship Contest, visit vote.votenow.tv/en3wqzG.
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