The year the original Queens shop opened. Its next generation is turning it into a chain.
Utopia Bagels was a single Queens institution, the kind of neighborhood spot that had been kettle-boiling bagels since Scott Spellman opened it in 1981. It could have stayed exactly that, one beloved shop, forever. Then a younger crew saw something bigger in it.
They made the pitch. In 2023, twin brothers Angelo and Jimmy Tsoulos, one of them a NYU Gallatin alum, approached Scott's son Jesse Spellman about expanding the brand together. Instead of protecting the shop by keeping it small, they bet that a real New York bagel deserved more locations, not fewer.
The bet is playing out. Since the partnership began, Utopia has opened new locations across Manhattan and Queens, including a Midtown East shop in 2026, with another under construction, ran a popup in London over the summer, and even branched into a classic pizza joint. A 1981 counter is becoming a New York name.
"They inherited a neighborhood classic and chose to build it into something bigger."
The easy move with a legacy business is to leave it untouched and call that respect. The Tsoulos brothers and Spellman did the harder thing, honoring what made the original great while scaling it for a new generation of customers. Stewardship and ambition do not have to be opposites.
This is the kind of building ANF loves to spotlight. You can respect what came before and still grow it. The next generation of Utopia is proving both at once.
The recipe stayed the same. The ambition got a lot bigger.