This new bagel business is bringing a taste of New York to Portland

Published 4:30 am Wednesday, February 26, 2025

“The Little Red Hen,” a classic children’s book, tells a tale of self-reliance and perseverance through the lens of a little red hen.

That little red hen begs and pleads for the other farm animals to collect wheat, harvest it and take it to the mill to be turned to bread. None of the animals batted an eye, so the little red hen went on its way.

It tells a tale that Portland’s newest bagel business, Red Hen Bagelry, follows in spirit.

“She wanted to do something, she asked for help, didn’t get the help, so she did it herself, and she seemed so unbothered, too. She’s like, ‘I’m gonna go do it anyway,’” Deirdre Tipley, owner of Red Hen Bagelry, said. “I want to be like the little red hen myself.”

Born and raised on Long Island, New York, bagels were a daily ritual. They weren’t anything special; bagels were the norm.

The bagel business opened in January with Tipley working in the wee morning hours to make bagels, which are then sold to local shops such as PDX Coffee Club and Hinterland Coffee & Clothing.

Around 1 a.m., Tipley has either a “bake day” or a “dough day” depending on the day of week, and works from the Cherry Pit Kitchen, a commercial use kitchen, in the heart of North Portland. Orders are placed online and folks can pick them up from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday at Cherry Sprout Produce.

Whether someone wants one $3 bagel, or a dozen, there’s no minimum. Orders open up the week before pickups, which are scheduled for the first and third Sunday of each month.

“Creating these bagels is like a nostalgia thing for me. That’s the types of food that’s comfort food to me. It brings me back to home or my childhood, good memories, or something like that,” Tipley said. “I want to share that with other people. I love sharing food and I love cooking for other people.”

And all the barley-malt-boiled bagels are created by a one person show — it’s all Tipley.

Journey to Portland

Ten years ago, Tipley, who uses the pronoun they, packed up their car, and their now 15-year-old Sphynx mix, Regis, and trekked to Portland.

“He hated it. He screamed and lost his mind the first day,” Tipley said remembering the meow-filled drive. “He was losing all his bowels and throwing up, all I could think was, ‘How am I going to do this the next five days?’”

Regis’ bowels and belly settled and Tipley continued with their foot on the gas toward the Pacific Northwest, a place they’d only really ever visited friends.

When Tipley landed in the City of Roses, they first worked in a shelter for homeless youth, and loved it, but always found a way back to the kitchen.

Bagel nostalgia

“It was just such a normal part of life,” Tipley said of growing up eating bagels.

Tipley’s family owned an Italian restaurant and several pizzerias, another New York claim to fame, so Tipley scored a job at 14 years old bussing tables. Quickly, they realized being shy didn’t pair well with being around customers all the time.

“I was just scared of the customers,” Tipley said, pleading to be put in the kitchen.

Since then, Tipley has always been in the kitchen. It was their first taste of cooking, working in their parents shop making pizza. It was their first time falling in love with dough.

“It’s a living thing. You have to take all factors into account — temperature, water, flour, humidity — it’s interesting,” Tipley said.

Day in and day out, Tipley will make dough only to come in the next day gasping in excitement at its proofing, as if it hasn’t been happening for the past 30 years. Tipley said it’s a feeling that never dies.

“I’m just like ‘Wow, it did what it’s supposed to do,’” Tipley joked.

Baking a business

Seven years ago, Tipley’s home kitchen became the birthplace of their bagel business idea.

Playing scientist, they tested different variables to find the perfect bagel. Tipley tried one thing at a time until the flavor, texture, chew — “the everything” — was on par.

“I wanted to recreate the bagel that I grew up on,” Tipley said.

In their most “obsessed year,” Tipley was baking bagels a few times per week.

Tipley had too many bagels to eat themself, so they would give them away for feedback in return, all of which was highly positive.

Though Tipley had wanted a business for years, they always imagined it’d be a pizza shop, the place they found their love of the kitchen. But the more Tipley pumped out yeasty, round treats, they leaned into the bagel bonanza.

“The more time I spent making bagels, I thought, ‘I’m just going to do something,’” Tipley said, following the lead of the little red hen.

Red Hen Bagelry technically started a year ago, but Tipley juggled two jobs, had to move and faced a number of setbacks to launching the business.

“I thought I’d never get Red Hen off the ground,” Tipley said.

Finally, on Jan. 4, Tipley made their first official bagel delivery, kicking off their business.

What flavors is Tipley selling?

The current bagel lineup are all vegan, though they’re not necessarily strictly vegan forever, it just turned out that way.

Tipley also has seasonal flavors on rotation, which most recently was a sweet and salty sesame.

The menu includes: everything, salt, onion, poppy sea salt, sesame sea salt, za’atar, rosemary sea salt and plain.

Tipley wanted to have all the traditional options, but included flavors like za’atar based on a provisions corner store in Brooklyn.

“They had these za’atar pita chips and I was just obsessed, so when I started making bagels I knew I was going to try,” Tipley said.

Seasonal flavors aren’t based on the season as they are just a rotational flavor every few months.

“I’m always tinkering around with new stuff just to keep it fresh and fun,” Tipley said. “I’ll share it with people and say, ‘What do you think about this?’ What do you think about that?’ A little more of this or a little more of that?’”

Tipley said one of the most enjoyable parts is the customers, who they don’t see as customers, but as genuine relationships. They feel like it’s a collaboration with others, which Tipley didn’t expect.

Bagel pride

“My younger self would be proud of me getting out and doing my own thing,” Tipley said. “I was stuck in New York for a while, I moved out here when I was 33, and found my own little path.”

Tipley said growing up in a family business sometimes shadowed their identity. Tipley was always identified as their parents’ child, always having to prove themself, working harder than others so they didn’t look like they were having an easy ride in life.

“That was my identity. I was just the daughter of the owners of these pizza shops,” Tipley said. “It was a good experience, but it’s cool that I’m making this happen myself.”

Ideally, the business will be kept small for as long as Tipley can, though the 5 p.m. snooze to 10 p.m. wake-up schedule seven days a week is taxing.

Tipley joked, “I’ve been losing track of what day it is. I need a watch.”

For more, visit redhenbagelry.com.

“Creating these bagels is like a nostalgia thing for me. That’s the types of food that’s comfort food to me.”

Deirdre Tipley, owner, Red Hen Bagelry