Growing up on Long Island, Josh Anker ate 2-3 bagels every week his entire childhood. When he moved to Philadelphia for college, he realized how much he missed his hometown bagels. The same went for pizza. He would always bring back bagels and pizza and freeze them after visiting home.

“After a recent trip visiting family, I had a dozen bagels on the counter and asked myself why don’t I just bring back a bunch and sell them?” Anker, 24, told Philly Grub. “That’s when the initial idea of New York Bagel Butler was born.”

Josh grew up in Mount Sinai, which he calls “a typical suburban town,” on the north shore of Long Island. He attended Drexel University, graduating in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and minors in Communication and Philosophy. He splits his time between Philadelphia and New York, spending the majority of the time in Philly.

“My plan was to take a gap year (June 2019-March 2020) to work in the legal field, but then COVID hit, and I had to decide if law school was really a smart decision. It is still something I plan on doing, but at the moment, bagels are a safer bet,” Anker said.

He decided to start New York Bagel Butler to supply Philadelphians with NY bagels delivered right to their door. And now, what began as a side hustle has quickly turned into a full-time business.

Anker placed his first deliveries on Saturday, June 20 to seven customers, five of which were close friends of his. His bagel delivery service in Philadelphia has grown through word of mouth and by posting on social media. He is now averaging 40+ deliveries every Saturday and expects that number to increase.

“The business is growing very fast as word gets out, and there is a demand for authentic New York bagels in Philadelphia,” Anker proclaimed proudly. “I actually just put my two weeks notice in at my full-time position as a legal admin.”

Prior to last week, he was doing all of the deliveries himself, averaging 400 miles driven each week. “I pack all of the orders personally and handle just about every other aspect of the business myself,” he said.

Recently, he hired another delivery person to help deliver fresh bagels. “I’ll likely have to hire a couple more delivery drivers in the future as orders increase,” Anker said.

Remarking about how customers are raving already, Anker exclaimed, “This is why I love doing this; making people happy makes me happy.”

Anker recently contracted with Philadelphia-based College Town Marketing to help manage his social media marketing.

Anker is also giving back to the community by donating to organizations and charities that help the less fortunate. The more bagels ordered, the more he will be able to donate.

“I enjoy giving away bagels each week to hungry families around Philly, so that is the main motivator for me to continue doing this. A couple weeks ago, we broke 100 dozen bagels given away, and it felt awesome,” Anker expressed.

All bagel orders received by Thursday are delivered every Saturday morning from 8 A.M. to 12 P.M. within 7 miles of 19102 and 4 miles of 19090.

Josh was nice enough to drop off some of these awesome New York bagels and we really enjoyed them! We highly recommend placing an order if you are in the delivery zone and want some authentic NY bagels delivered to your door. A dozen bagels will set you back $24.

For more information and to order, visit NYBagelButler.com and follow on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.