Exodus Bagels: From Pickup Window to Profitable Retail

Exodus Bagels is a family-owned artisan bagel shop based in Roslindale, Boston, founded in 2014 by Priscilla Andrade and Adam Hirsh. What began at a farmers market sandwich cart grew into one of Boston's most beloved bagel brands, hand-crafting malt-kettled bagels, breakfast and deli sandwiches, baked goods, and catering for over a decade. A business rooted in community, Exodus employs 15 people, many of them neighbors from Roslindale, Jamaica Plain, and Roxbury, and generates over $1.2M in annual revenue. With a long-awaited retail dine-in space under construction at their McCraw Street location, Priscilla and Adam came to The Acceleration Project (TAP) ready to build the financial foundation their next chapter would demand.

A Business Built to Last, Ready for Its Next Chapter

• With a retail build-out underway and lenders at the table, Priscilla and Adam wanted to pair their decade of community trust and operational experience with a financial narrative that was just as strong.

• A detailed P&L review gave the team a clearer picture of their cost structure, surfacing gap between operating expenses and gross profit that grant income had been bridging, and opening up a conversation about what long-term profitability could look like.

• Labor costs at 52% of revenue reflected the care Priscilla and Adam had put into building a stable, loyal team over many years. With the retail opening on the horizon, they saw an opportunity to bring that number in line with a structure that could support continued growth.

• As the sole managers of a 15-person operation, both owners had stayed close to every part of the business, a strength that had carried Exodus through a decade of pivots. The next step was building out a leadership layer that would give them the bandwidth to focus on the expansion ahead.

• Their discount and comp program had always been an expression of the community relationships at the heart of the business. Quantifying it for the first time, at $56.5K annually, gave them the information they needed to make intentional decisions about how to continue that generosity sustainably.

  
  

How TAP Helped Exodus Build the Roadmap to Retail

• Through TAP's Deep Dive Program (March - July 2026), conducted a full diagnostic of 2024 and 2025 actuals, identifying five core structural issues including operating loss, overhead burden, labor intensity, revenue volatility, and discount leakage, giving the owners a clear, prioritized picture of what needed to change before and alongside the retail opening.

• Built a five-year financial projection model with DSCR stress-testing, giving lenders a credible, data-backed repayment narrative and giving Priscilla and Adam a model they could walk into any conversation with confidence.

• Developed a product mix and unit economics framework across food, beverage, and catering, surfacing catering as a high-priority growth lever with a 100% gross margin profile and significant room to expand from its current 4% revenue share.

• Delivered the Exodus Bagels Owner Model 2026, a working financial tool with 2025 actuals, a 2026 projection, loan scenario analysis, and a "What If" tab for testing six key business levers, designed for the owners to use, not just present.

• Quantified what retail success would require and grounding targets in the business's real cost structure rather than industry averages.

  
  

Results: A Business Ready to Open Its Doors

• Built a lender-ready financial narrative, giving Priscilla and Adam a compelling, evidence-based case to bring into capital conversations.

• Gained full visibility into their discount and comp program for the first time, with a clear and intentional strategy for managing it going forward.

• Established a concrete retail expansion roadmap with quantified milestones tied directly to the build-out plan they had been working toward for years.

• Projected revenue of $1.46M in 2026 post-retail opening, up from $1.23M.

• Walked away with the financial fluency and tools to lead lender meetings, pricing conversations, and staffing decisions with clarity and confidence.

— Priscilla Andrade & Adam Hirsh, Co-Founders, Exodus Bagels