Along Forest Hill Avenue, a street sometimes better known for its traffic than its food scene, sits one of Richmond’s most talked-about bagel shops, Baltik’s Bagels. Opened on October 14, 2024, at 6801 Forest Hill Ave., Baltik’s Bagels has transformed Richmond’s breakfast scene. Founded by California-born chef Yero Rudzinskas, the shop combines excellent kettle-boiled bagels with fast service. With 1.3 million people in the Richmond area, Baltik’s Bagels took a gamble as one of the few authentic bagel shops. This gamble has been a success, as their shop always has long drive-thru lines or crowded counters on the inside. With a growing reputation and increase in customers, Baltik’s Bagels can become the bagel capital of Richmond.
The shop has a large LED sign on the outside usually featuring new bagels or updated working hours. Despite Sunday morning being the peak time for breakfast, Baltik’s Bagels has decided to close their shop on Sunday, to give their staff a day off. The shop notes on their website: “We want each of our employees to know they will always have at least one weekend day off per week. We love that our team gets to spend Sunday with their families.” This surprising choice represents the values the shop upholds, giving their employees the best experience possible. Even with missing out on one of the most profitable days of the week for breakfast customers, Baltik’s Bagel still finds success during the week and on Saturdays.
Born in Sonoma, California, Rudzinskas is of Lithuanian heritage, where his love for traditional bagels began. He also has an impressive resume: a Michelin-level chef, an investment banker, and a tech executive. Rudzinskas became a Michelin-level chef through his rigorous culinary training, including attending the Culinary Institute of America, working in high-level fine dining restaurants. Rudzinskas describes his store’s service and bagels on the Baltik’s Bagels website as “Kettle-boiled, chef driven and lightning fast.” Rudzinskas chose Richmond because of his wife’s strong ties to the University of Richmond, where she attended college. He targeted the southside of Richmond because he believed there was a strong need for a bagel shop, and he secured the location on Forest Hill because it featured a parking lot and drive-thru.
The location itself had seen struggles in the past. Previous businesses, including Dunkin’ and Go Bird, failed to find success there and were forced to close. In contrast, Baltik’s Bagels has quickly thrived, meeting high expectations with rapid growth, steady crowds, and delicious bagels. Other noteworthy bagel shops in Richmond include Chewy’s Bagels in Carytown, Cupertino’s NY Bagels in Henrico, and Nate’s Bagels in the fan.
Baltik’s Bagels offers classic bagels, such as plain, everything, salt, Asiago, sesame seed, and poppy seed. They also feature unconventional flavors, such as bacon rosemary, jalapeño cheddar, cinnamon raisin, and honey crunch. In addition, they offer a softer bagel option called “the softie,” which has a light, milkier dough. Their cream cheese selection is also impressive. Flavors include whipped, scallion, garlic herb, piquante, dilly willy, lotsa lox, strawberry, vanilla bean, butter, and whipped honey butter. Customers have plenty of delicious choices…