Syracuse, N.Y. — After a 15-day pause to ‘regroup and get it together,’ a Brooklyn-style bagel shop has reopened near the Syracuse University campus.
Schoolyard Bagels opened Feb. 8 to lines of customers that stretched out the door and down University Avenue. After two days of low inventory and long wait times, the owners decided to close so they could assess what went wrong.
“We were overwhelmed, and we were tripping over each other. It was unfair to the customers,” said Peter Lombardo, one of the owners. “We all agreed we needed to regroup and figure out how to get on track.”
During that break, Lombardo and his partners, Carmine Curra and Nick Castronuovo, hired more staff and assigned each employee to a specific workstation. After six trips from tech support, the store’s point-of-sale system now works seamlessly. The shelves of bagels that had leaned against the back wall and the counter of cream cheeses are now full and up front next to the cashier who takes each order.
On opening day, wait times for a bagel and spread passed 10 minutes; this morning, they were 2 to 3 minutes. And while they had about the same number of customers as opening day, the line never went beyond three people.
“We have a better and faster flow now,” Lombardo said. “Taking that break to restart was a smart move.”
Schoolyard Bagels is open Monday-Wednesday 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday-Friday 6:30 a.m. to 3 a.m.; Saturday 7 a.m. to 3 a.m.; Sunday 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
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Charlie Miller finds the best in food, drink and fun across Central New York. Contact him at (315) 382-1984, or by email at [email protected]. (AND he pays for what he and his guests eat and drink, just so you know.) You can also find him under @HoosierCuse on Twitter and on Instagram. Sign up for his free weekly Where Syracuse Eats newsletter here.
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