Brantford Bagel Babe is Our Everything [Bagel]

There’s a new baker in town, and she’s churning out the most delicious bagels and artisan cream cheese!

Terra Wilton is the Brantford Bagel Babe, and recently started operating out of a “ghost kitchen” out of Soulful Kafe (81 Brant Avenue, Brantford). Like many others, Wilton lost her job during the pandemic. She knew it would be a long shot to find a new corporate job in the industries she specialized in (special events, travel, etc.) so she started to brain storm ideas for her own business. Wilton researched Brantford’s food scene looking for voids, and quickly realized that there were no specialty bagels available in town.

Brantford Bagel Babe offers Plain, Everything, Cinnamon Raisin, Chocolate Chip and Cheese bagel flavours. She also makes specialty cream cheeses and butters, including a decadent Nutella cream cheese that can easily pass as dessert! Her recipe took a lot of time to perfect, and she’s tight-lipped about revealing her secrets, but she can share that the secret to a great, chewy bagel is boiling the dough before popping them into the oven.

Wilton is fairly new to town, and moved her family here from Hamilton; a friend who lived in town at the time told her that “Brantford loves small business and entrepreneurs,” and in hindsight, her friend was absolutely right. “The community is fantastic and supportive; I would have never imaged all the new friendships I have formed,” Wilton says. She found a lot of support within other local entrepreneurs, including Jamie Stephens (Spool Gourmet Poutine + Mac ‘N Cheese, Rope Factory Event Hall and Brantford Comedy Festival); Ryan Devlin (Devlin’s Country Bistro in Mount Pleasant); and Jonny Geniro (Oakhill Marketplace). She respects how those three business owners, in particular, have creatively pivoted and thrived over the last year, all while still helping others.

What’s next for Brantford Bagel Babe? Wilton is hoping to open a cozy lunch café featuring comfort foods like soups and bagels, so we’re crossing our fingers for her own brick and mortar shop very soon.

Until then, if you want to try out Wilton’s bagels, send a direct message to Brantford Bagel Babe on Facebook and she’ll work with you to schedule a date and time for pickup at Soulful Kafe from Monday to Friday. If you just want to try a few bagels, then consider visiting Oakhill Marketplace (39 King George Road, Brantford) every Saturday to buy single bagels.

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