FOLEY — What started as a series of pop-ups with 100 bagels became a runaway train of love and gluten. Bagel Boy Foley is 1 years old.

Just before opening his first location at 515 N. McKenzie St., Alex Warner chatted with Gulf Coast Media in its tiny kitchen. His energy and excitement were contagious, and it has quickly spread across Baldwin County as Warner has grown his legion of loyal customers.

"Obviously there was a hole that needed to be filled," Warner said as he topped bagel pizzas with pepperoni. "We came along, created bagels and filled that hole with schmear."

To celebrate the first birthday of the business, Warner threw his dream childhood birthday party Friday, Aug. 11. A huge inflatable, Frank N Lola's food truck and Restless Coffee food truck filled the backyard while a dunk tank took center stage at the outdoor seating area. A group of loyal fans chatted with Warner, ate burgers, sipped cold coffee and counted down the minutes until Warner took his seat in the dunk tank.

While waiting in line for a burger, a mom could be overheard saying her son insisted they come by because he was part of the class that painted the menu board. Despite Mom being ready to go, he begged her to stay until he could dunk Warner. By the time a now soaking Warner had finished his stint, the same boy took his spot. What Mom thought would be an hour ended up being her evening, but she didn't seem to mind.

From his initial interview, Warner spoke about wanting to be involved in the community. Since then, he has had local students create art for the restaurant, fed people, collaborated with local businesses and restaurants, put smiles on faces and turned his location into a bustling hub in downtown Foley.

Gulf Coast Media chatted with Warner about the past year and lessons learned in the same tiny kitchen while he prepped bagel pizzas to give away to the guests.

Q: What has been the biggest lesson you learned this first year in business?

"There have been so many. I think the biggest lesson I have learned that most people starting a restaurant should know is no matter what you think, it is going to be hard," Warner said. "Things are going to fail; you are going to have to change things in the moment and don't freak out. It is going to happen again and again, and the better your attitude is the better it is overall."

If you follow Bagel Boy's social media, you will know he speaks from a place of experience. Opening a business in an old building has come with problems from permitting to power issues. Despite having to temporarily close occasionally, Warner has tried to keep a positive attitude.

Q: What has been your favorite thing to come out of opening Bagel Boy?

"Being called Bagel Boy in public and getting to be a part of the community has been my favorite thing," Warner said. "I wanted to run for city council before we started this, and I didn't know anybody. I had the Copper Kettle (owned by his mom and aunt), and people knew my family a little bit. Now that I have been in it, I want to champion small businesses. My whole goal for everything has been getting into the community."

WARP SPEED GROWTH

In just one year, Warner has grown from a team of three (including himself) baking and selling 200 bagels to a team of 16 with two locations, making and baking 700 bagels a day.

Before the expansion to One Club in Gulf Shores, Warner was already thinking of growth, additional concepts and possibly franchising, but he has reeled himself in and has a solid plan for the next two years.

Q: So, what should we watch for from Bagel Boy?

"We are building a bagel production facility. We will have a machine that rolls and forms all the bagels. I would love to keep hand rolling, but, realistically, we are the only game in town. I am not competing in New York against a ton of bagel shops. A bagel roller former does 3,500 bagels an hour. That is a lot of dough," Warner laughed. "The goal is to do 10,000 a day and to create satellite shops where our bagels are boiled and baked every day, but we want them to be made at a main facility."

In a full circle moment since Gulf Coast Media's first interview with Warner, a local mill is going to teach him how to mill his flour. Warner said it is probably the coolest thing to happen since he started the business.

"They are teaching me all about the milling process, and we are going to start milling our flour for bagels and breads," Warner said, still in disbelief. "I don't know how it happened."

Warner said that in the early talks about expansion and franchising he was wearing rose-colored glasses. He has since taken them off.

"I think this is very scalable, but I think I am going to take the next year or two and focus on this spot, Gulf Shores, production, sustainability, open Burger Boy and our biscuit concept all in Foley.

Yes, this is slowing down for Warner.

And yes, you heard that right. Burger Boy and a biscuit concept could be coming soon to Foley.'

Q: Will it be called Biscuit Boy?

"I already have a space we are taking over in December," Warner divulged. "That is why we started making biscuits. Biscuit King is gone."

Another new addition that started this week is an espresso program at Bagel Boy Foley. Josh Sands of Beakers Coffee has come on board and taken over the coffee program. Bagel Boy has offered cold brew since Day One, but Warner wants to be a one-stop shop for his customers.

"People come here from Starbucks or 7 Brew with a cup full of coffee and come get a bagel. If I can save someone 20 minutes in the morning and give them an awesome hot or iced drink then we are going to do that," Warner said. "I go every morning and get a hot espresso drink from somewhere else because that is just how I mentally start my day. With our friends at Our Coffee closing, there is a hole in the market once again, and I am taking it."