When Amber Chris and her business partner, Robyn Monk, stopped serving sandwich bagels out of Caffe Ibis Gallery Café’s kitchen, Cache Valley wasn’t shy about its disappointment.
“They’d say, ‘When are you bringing the bagels back? I can’t believe you stopped selling the bagels.’ The bagels, the bagels, the bagels," Chris recalled. "I understand, because people would show up for months expecting to get bagel sandwiches, but it was over, and they’d be like, ‘No!’”
Eventually, Chris and Monk decided to bring them back, though she knew they would need a spot separate from their existing business, Le Croissant.
That’s why they started Fairway Bagels and Donuts, a three-week-old bakery born from the community’s mourning at the loss of bagels.
When Chris started baking pastries to sell at Caffe Ibis in October 2022, she said she wasn’t planning to serve bagels at all. But in March 2023, after the owners asked her to make them, she found the bagels were a hit.
A year later, Chris and Monk moved Le Croissant to its own storefront, and found that offering its artisan bread menu and simultaneously making bagel sandwiches to sell through Caffe Ibis was stretching them too thin. They decided to bag the bagels.
Now, she said eager bagel-lovers can reconnect with their old favorites, as well as try the donuts they’ve added to the menu. To capture a nostalgic vibe, they settled on the building at the corner of 400 South and 400 West in Logan, one that Chris said has been abandoned for 50 years.
“It used to be called the Fairway Market. It was a little grocer. The developer, his mom actually used to come buy penny candies from here and sit on these steps and eat her little penny candies," Chris said. "I just decided to call it fairway to honor the history of the building.”
Everything’s made in house, she added — Monk prepares meat in a custom-made smoker sitting just outside the shop, and Chris prepares the bagels and pastries in the basement.
“We get as many meat products locally sourced as we can, we love working with local farmers," Chris said. "We just kind of focus on doing everything from scratch. I like to use organic central milling flour.”
Friday morning, eager customers lined up to get a taste.
Jonathan Alen said he was thrilled to have a new spot near his home. He likes the cheese bagels, and his young son favors whatever donuts have sprinkles.
“I’ve lived on the west side of Logan for a while, so I love places like that are sort of entrenched in the community," Alen said.
Sandra Almonte, who was waiting for breakfast with her family, said they used to live in the area and were excited to check out the new installment.
“We think it’s a big hit," she said.
“We love to make the best food that we can," Chris said. "We’re not pretentious.”