For Rob Shuffield, opening Jeff’s Bagel Run in Bloomingdale Square brings a longtime restaurant dream back to familiar ground. The 1990 Brandon High School graduate and his wife, Teresa Shuffield, celebrated the shop’s grand opening on October 2, bringing scratch-made bagels, spreads and coffee to a community they already serve through their Nothing Bundt Cakes bakeries in Winthrop and Brandon.
Located at 875 E. Bloomingdale Ave. in Brandon, between Bealls and EOS Fitness, the new shop puts the couple close to the families and schools that drew Rob to Bloomingdale Square.
“From the moment we started preparing to open in Brandon, the community has been incredibly welcoming,” co-founder Jeff Perera said.
Customers can watch staff mix and shape dough, then boil and bake bagels in small batches throughout the day. Fresh batches keep coming through the morning, with no toasters behind the counter.
“Fresh baked bagels don’t need to be toasted,” Perera said.
Spreads include savory roasted jalapeño and chive and onion, plus sweet cake batter and banana pudding. Hot coffee, iced lattes, cold brew, teas and refreshers round out the menu, whether customers stop for one bagel or pick up a box to share.
The rotating Bagel of the Day began with jalapeño and blueberry, two additional doughs Perera knew how to make. When those became regular offerings, customers still wanted a daily special, pushing the team to develop new varieties and bring back favorites.
Perera’s bagel-making journey began after he lost his job in 2019. His wife, Danielle, encouraged him to make the bagels they struggled to find near their Central Florida home. He tested recipes until friends and neighbors began ordering.
The home project became Jeff’s Bagel Run. The Pereras opened their first storefront in Ocoee in 2021, using the recipe developed in their kitchen.
The company reached 41 shops with the Bloomingdale and Cumming, Georgia, openings, with Plantation next on its expansion schedule.
“It’s exciting to see how far the brand has come in a relatively short amount of time,” Perera said.
Franchise owners and their teams receive extensive training to carry that approach into new shops. Technology alerts bakers when a flavor runs low, helping replenish the selection while keeping production on-site.
“Our system ensures bagels are made fresh and replenished as needed,” Perera said.
For the Shuffields, fresh dough is familiar territory. Their restaurant career began long before Jeff’s, and Rob’s ownership ambitions started even earlier.
“I wanted to own a Beef ‘O’ Brady’s franchise since I was in 10th grade,” Rob said. “We would go there after our tennis matches in high school.”
He carried that ambition to the University of Florida, where restaurant work introduced him to Teresa.
“I worked in restaurants to gain experience and met Teresa at UF,” he said.
A CiCi’s Pizza franchise owner recruited Rob from Don Pablo’s and explained that ownership could be within reach. Rob and Teresa joined CiCi’s to learn the business and qualify to open their own restaurant.
Three years later, they became owners. Rob was 29, and Teresa was 25. They later moved to Virginia, opening their first location there in 2001 and expanding to 10 over eight years before returning to Florida.
A fellow CiCi’s owner introduced them to Nothing Bundt Cakes.
“Teresa and I signed up and opened our first location January 2016,” Rob said.
They expect to open their 10th and 11th bakeries this October and November. Another business connection introduced them to bagels.
“My contractor told me he was building some Jeff’s Bagel Runs and he wanted to pick my brain about opening his own,” Rob said.
The brand’s following encouraged them to explore it.
“Everyone in Orlando loves Jeff’s, and so Teresa and I opened three this year,” he said.
They opened in The Villages in April, Gainesville in July and now Bloomingdale. Rob sees a link between their scratch-made pizza kitchens and production at Jeff’s.
Jeff’s Bagel Run is open daily from 6:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Visit www.jeffsbagelrun.com or call 656-272-5774 for information.
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