In 2013, Elyse Oleksak, co-founder of Bantam Bagels, received a call from her husband Nick about a little snack that would put some big plans into motion. “Mini bagels stuffed with cream cheese,” Oleksak remembers saying in her recently published memoir A Shark Ate My Bagel: How We Built Bantam Bagels. “Kind of like donut holes, but bagels.” Oleksak had heard many ambitious ideas from her entrepreneurial husband in the past, but small stuffed bagels were one of them she could support. The duo met at a grocery store after work to begin experimenting.
Image source: Courtesy of Elyse Oleksak
It was the beginning of Bantam Bagels’ nearly decade-long journey through “success followed by failure” and “elation followed by panic,” says Oleksak Entrepreneur exclusively.
The business caused a sensation Shark tankwhere the Oleksaks struck a deal in 2014 with Lori Greiner (hence the title of Oleksak’s book) for $275,000 for 11% equity. Over the next few years, sales reached $45 million as the product line expanded to include mini stuffed pancakes, egg bites landed in 10,000 stores and 8,500 Starbucks, and was eventually acquired by Ohio-based T. Marzetti Company in 2018 for $34 million. Dollar took over before ceasing operations in 2022.
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“We would perish in the wake of our own success if we didn’t do something about it soon.”
Like many entrepreneurs at the helm of a fast-growing company, the Oleksaks experienced an “aha moment” when they realized their dilemma between cash and growth. “We got to a point where, even though this was our baby and we owned it almost 100% for so long, in the wake of our own success, if we didn’t do something about it, we were going to die soon,” says Oleksak. So the Oleksaks sold to T. Marzetti. Oleksak recalls that it felt like a perfect combination and the pair continued to work in marketing and product development.
However, Oleksak admits that it wasn’t easy to get used to the new relationship with the company. It’s a fight that didn’t make it into the book, she says, but an important one nonetheless. According to Oleksak, with all the focus on success stories and flashy sales, there is one all-too-common experience that gets lost in the narrative because “people don’t talk about it”: How do you cope when all your hard work pays off and your dream finally comes true?
“Every fiber of our being was dedicated to the survival and growth of this company [for years]”So when you operate in that fight or flight mode for so long, it just becomes who you are.” Simultaneously striving for success and preparing for disaster takes a heavy mental toll, says Oleksak, and when there were no more As she put out fires, her brain began to “invent disasters” that did not exist and therefore had no concrete solutions – a never-ending “spiral”.
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“When we felt safe and at peace, I almost didn’t know what to do with that security and peace.”
“We found loving arms for our explosive child,” says Oleksak. “We made it. But every single feeling of self and success.” [had been] I was enveloped in this vortex of panic the entire time, and when we felt safe and at peace, I almost didn’t know what to do with that safety and peace. Your brain almost doesn’t know what to do when it stops. Personally, I went through an extreme breakdown.” Oleksak compares the experience to that of professional athletes who have to redefine themselves after a career in sports.
Seeing your biggest dream come true can be amazing, but according to Oleksak, you need to prepare your brain for a complete change in your mindset and acquire the appropriate tools to deal with it. The entrepreneur is a big proponent of therapy and credits it with helping her recalibrate what’s needed to get through from one day to the next without seeing chaos as a foregone conclusion. “I worked through a lot to find mental peace and stability and to be present in the moment again,” she says.
Unfortunately, just a few years after T. Marzetti acquired Bantam Bagels, the pandemic put pressure on the supply chain and made stocking the same variety of products a challenge as retailers streamlined their processes wherever possible. Oleksak says that at that point she and her husband had relinquished many decision-making powers and were not involved in the discussions that ultimately led to T. Marzetti ceasing production of the brand. Still, Oleksak — and the nearly 1,500 people who signed a petition supporting the return of Bantam Bagels — would like to see the products make a comeback someday.
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As Oleksak reflected on her entrepreneurial journey “full of ups and downs,” she kept remembering all the connections she made along the way – from every customer who bought a Bantam Bagel to the manufacturers who took a chance on the product , celebrity supporters like Oprah, Sarah Jessica Parker and Whoopi Goldberg and many more – and wanted to give back with a behind-the-scenes look at the lessons learned over the years. So Oleksak put pen to paper and wrote a draft A shark ate my bagelthen decided to self-publish it “in an entrepreneurial way,” with a marketing plan that included her own website and an Amazon push.
“Thank God I organized all these lessons because, man, I made a lot of mistakes,” laughs Oleksak. These days, she’s approaching publishing her book like starting a “mini-business” and says that’s where she’s putting most of her energy right now. But she also looks forward to working with small businesses in the future and helping them avoid the mistakes she made and achieve their own successes.