Back then, he baked a maximum of about 13 dozen a day, but the business soon expanded, with the first Jeff’s Bagel Run store opening in Ocoee in 2021 and other locations following, the most recent in Clermont earlier this month. That Lake County store baked 142 dozen bagels on its opening day.

Jeff’s Bagel Run now has seven locations, eight others in development — including stores in North Carolina and Texas — and recently inked a deal to add 30 more locations across South Florida. The first of of those shops will debut in Boca Raton, Coconut Creek, and Pembroke Pines later this year.

Despite the growth, the company is still committed to selling top-notch bagels with flavors ranging from garlic bread and cinnamon sugar to salted caramel and white pizza, said Catriona Harris, the store’s vice president of marketing.

“The biggest thing is continuing our same commitment to quality,” she said. “Jeff and his wife Danielle are still in the stores every day rolling bagels, teaching people how to make bagels, doing the cream cheese and more so that we continue that same quality as we continue to grow, which is the number one most important thing.”

The new, 30-store deal is with VHP Retail Holdings, which manages a portfolio of car washes and uBreakiFix stores in South Florida.

CEO Enzo Potolicchio said he wanted to expand into the food industry and saw Jeff’s Bagel Run as good fit.

“When I heard the founding story and tasted the bagels, I was immediately sold,” Potolicchio said in a statement. “As a family-run business ourselves, I wanted a product that I would feed my own family. These are the freshest bagels I’ve ever tasted, and I’m confident the community will agree.”

Harris said the plan is to open 10 South Florida locations in each of the next three years. Typically, it takes about eight to 12 weeks from lease signing to construction completion for a location to open its doors, she added.

When a new location opens, Harris said it typically attracts both new customers and those who’d purchased bagels at Jeff’s other shops. That was true when the Celebration shop in Osceola County opened in April.

“When we opened, it was a mix of customers who had been coming to us for years and customers who said ‘I tried you and I heard of you, but now that you’re on my side of town, it’s awesome’,” Harris said. “I feel that at every opening, which is really fun to see.”

Jeff’s Bagel Run earned national acclaim last year when it was named one of America’s Best Bagels at the New York BagelFest.

Darden will acquire all outstanding shares of Chuy’s at $37.50 per share as part of the purchase agreement and will pay approximately $605 million in an all-cash transaction.

“Chuy’s compliments our existing portfolio by allowing us to access the popular Mexican dining category, which we do not compete in today,” Darden CEO Rick Cardenas said Thursday. “The Mexican category is one of the fastest-growing dining categories and Chuy’s is the largest full service operator with strong unit economics.”

Chuy’s has 101 restaurants in 15 states and has about 7,400 employees, according to Cardenas. That includes restaurants in Kissimmee, Orlando and Winter Park.

In the 12 months ending in March, the chain generated more than $450 million in sales, he said.

Orlando-based Darden will now own 10 restaurant chains, including Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse. It has more than 1,900 restaurants and 190,000 employees.

The popularity of Mexican food with younger consumers helped spur the purchase deal, Cardenas said.

“The younger generation really loves Mexican concepts and some of them are in the fast casual space, but people migrate over the course of their lives,” he said. “Chuy’s meets a different needs set than maybe a fast casual version of Mexican.”

Cardenas said purchasing Chuy’s provides “ample runway” for new restaurant growth and is a large enough acquisition to make a meaningful impact on Darden.

Chuy’s CEO and President Steven Hislop said he’s “excited” to join Darden. “Darden shares many of our same core values, particularly our operating philosophy and strong team member cultures,” he said in a statement. “Together we will accelerate our business goals and bring our authentic, made-from-scratch Tex-Mex to more guests and communities.”

As recently as February, Chuy’s had plans to open six to eight new locations by the end of the year. Cardenas said Darden will move forward with the new restaurants Chuy’s had planned and expects modest growth from the brand.

“They do have quite a lot of restaurants in their pipeline and we’re going to keep those going. We’re going to continue to build the pipeline,” he added.

The deal comes as both restaurant companies have been struggling with a downturn in customer traffic due to consumer concerns about inflation.

In Darden’s fiscal fourth quarter, which ended May 26, same-store sales — or sales at restaurants open at least a year — were flat compared to the prior year. Chuy’s same-store sales were down 5% in its first quarter, which ended March 31.

Investment bank Jefferies downgraded shares for both restaurant chains earlier this month, saying they’re being squeezed by price promotions at fast-food chains like McDonald’s as well as at casual dining peers like Chili’s and Applebee’s.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.