When the global pandemic struck and quarantine got underway, everybody’s lives changed. People took up new hobbies, binge watched TV shows, or downloaded Tiktok to pass the time, helping to distract from the reality that the world faced.
However, two IU students used their quarantines to create opportunity.
Boaz Kelner lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where he’s resided since his childhood years. Kelner has a special spot in his heart for his former hometown, New York City, but not for its busy streets or unwavering energy.
“I’m originally born in New York, so I’ve always been passionate about bagels, good lox, you know,” said Kelner. “Leaving New York, we didn’t have good bagels, so I’ve always been on a quest for that.”
When Kelner was sent home to Nashville to quarantine, he decided to pass his time trying to perfect the art of making a New York style bagel.
“I’ve always enjoyed cooking, but I never really did much baking,” said Kelner. “My mom’s a big baker, so over quarantine we just started, kind of messing around with bagels. Figuring out recipes from online, tweaking and making adjustments. I was making probably two or three batches a week, which was a lot at the time. Now we’re doing 10 in a day.”
Boaz Kelner, founder of Nice Jewish Bagels, discusses his weekly business operations and how he recruited his staff.
Kelner was documenting his bagel making on his Snapchat and Instagram stories when his friend Sam Sternstein had the idea to make his hobby a business on IU’s campus. Since then, his other friends have joined the staff and work each weekend.
“I just found other friends, homies from back home,” said Kelner. “We’re just doing it now together, got a pretty good work flow. We just knock out the dough quickly, and then sandwiches are easy. We’ve got three townhouses in a row basically, so I’m just using all of their ovens.”
Nice Jewish Bagels produces about 300 bagels in a weekend, but his love for this business is not only for the profit. After his fraternity was kicked off campus last year, he feels that Nice Jewish Bagels provides him and his friends the camaraderie that they were missing.
“People weren’t getting off the couch,” said Kelner. “For me to be able to like, do something, make something, create something that like, my friends want to be a part of and would wake up at 5 AM to do, like, that’s pretty hype. For me at least.”
While Nice Jewish Bagels continues to grow, IU senior Chaz Zayed has reached international success with his clothing brand, Awful Cloth. However, like Kelner, Zayed started as an entrepreneur with a small food business.
Chaz Zayed, founder of Awful Cloth, discusses how his business started, how it became successful and what his business means to him.
Chaz Zayed’s first business was an operation out of his dorm room, where he would make simple quesadillas with just tortillas, cheese and hot sauce, to serve to late-night customers from his and surrounding dorms.
“I really loved late-night food,” said Zayed. “I loved ordering pizza, or getting late night food delivered to my dorm. But the problem was, it took way too long to deliver and it was very expensive. So, I decided to buy a quesadilla maker online and started making quesadillas in my own dorm room.”
When Zayed saw the impact he was making with his quesadillas, he decided he wanted to make a more sustainable impact on his campus. With his passion for fashion, a clothing brand was the obvious choice. Next, he needed a name.
“The name ‘Awful’ obviously means ‘bad’ or ‘terrible,’ and that connotation, but for us and the brand it means ‘full of awe’ and ‘inspiring,’” said Zayed. “It’s all about finding the good in the bad. Also, turning a situation on its head and looking at it in a new light.”
With the help of his hometown friend and cofounder, Emmit Flynn, Awful Cloth has sold its sweatshirts with hand drawn designs to over 70 countries.
The brand’s well-known success came in part as a result of the social media platform, Tiktok, and its ability to make anybody into a celebrity.
“I reached out to a certain amount of Tiktokers while I was abroad and one of those happened to be Charli Damelio,” said Zayed. “She said ‘yeah, send me some hoodies,’ so we sent her one hoodie, and since that day we’ve really penetrated the Tiktok market I would say. That day we sold to like 20-30 countries across the globe.”
Now, Zayed looks to the future, where he will work in his New York office.
“If I’m going to do this, I’m going to have to stick with this every single day,” said Zayed “It can’t be something I push aside. It has to be known that I am running a business, that I am Mr. Awful, that I am just doing this.”
