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Date: 3/31/2021
FLORENCE – With locations in Easthampton, Northampton, and Hadley, Tandem Bagel opened another location in Florence on March 1 with plans to continue with expansion later this year.
Chris Zawacki, Tandem Bagel’s owner, said the location in Florence came as a result of a partnership with the café that previously owned the new Florence location.
“There was an existing café there that was a wholesale account of ours, so we had a relationship with the last two tenants. It was already there as a café and we had been delivering them wholesale bagels, so we felt like it was an opportunity for us to open a new location without some of the extra work,” he said.
Zawacki said the biggest challenge in opening the new location along with maintaining their other locations is how slow the economy is as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The traffic in all our locations is still lower than normal, so I guess the challenge is we are still operating at a less than ideal level. A good percentage of our business model is takeout so that has been helping us get through the pandemic. The biggest challenge is the slowness of the economy,” he said.
Despite operations across all locations being restricted primarily to takeout, Zawacki said there is limited seating available.
“Since the restrictions did come down a little bit, we do have some seating inside. There is room for 12 seats, which is being used not all the time, but especially on weekends,” he said.
Along with the new Florence location, Zawacki said they are also planning on opening a West Springfield location.
“We are working on a location in West Springfield, which will probably be in mid- to late-summer this year,” he said.
With the end of the COVID-19 pandemic slowly coming into picture, Zawacki said he and his staff will continue to work through it.
“Like every other restaurant in the industry it’s a battle to get through this time, we are doing okay, we are just going to keep trying to manage our business as best as we can and move forward,” he said.