NY-style bagels on the rise in Hilton Head-area. This local shop kneads a third location
Ana Rojas knows bagels. As the owner of Hilton Head’s only bagel shop, she spends the majority of her day around them. She knows a good bagel is made from scratch, and never from frozen dough. And she knows the simple bliss of an everything bagel with cream cheese.
But the local bagel guru isn’t originally from the bagel industry. She’s only owned Island Bagel & Deli, which currently operates one location on Hilton Head and one in Bluffton, since 2021. A Mexican immigrant who moved to the island from California, Rojas worked at the bagel shop for years before taking over, learning the ins and outs of the business from the previous owner.
Now, Island Bagel & Deli is opening a new location in Bluffton, in the old Bojangles building off of Buckwalter Parkway. The spot is just four miles away from the recently opened Nosh NY Bagels in Ridgeland, run by a New Jersey couple that ships their dough directly from New York.
Rojas moved to the island 20 years ago from California and worked a number of jobs before landing at the bagel shop. She started out at Publix, and later she started her own cleaning company on the island. Right before the pandemic, she and her brother opened a food truck —Jesse’s Island Food — a namesake for her son that served up tacos, quesadillas and burritos.
At the Island Bagel she did it all, she said, from food prep to taking orders from locals she started to recognize as regulars. She eventually took over the business in 2021.
It’s a family affair. Her husband, she said, bakes the bagels from 1 a.m. until the sun rises. Her son Jesse can often be seen behind the counter, cracking jokes and making customers smile. People light up when they see him, Rojas said.
On an island many workers find too expensive to live, Rojas considers herself lucky to have found “good, responsible” people to help run the shop. Although some of her employees live on the island, others come in from Bluffton or elsewhere. Over the years, rising rents and long commute times have driven some of her longtime employees away from the area.
“I feel sad, because it was a lot of people who (had) been here for so many years,” Rojas said.
The new location will be the production center for the other two shops, and Rojas hopes to open it sometime this summer. Bagel equipment, shipped by special order from New York, has arrived, and electrical and plumbing work is underway.
It’s been a challenge to take care of the new location while running two others, but she’s looking forward to having a bigger space.
“I’m really happy and I’m really blessed, and I thank God with all my heart for this opportunity,” Rojas said.
