Noah Bernstein and Peter Hurteau started the business in 2016, and opened a brick and mortar shop in North Portland's St. Johns neighborhood in 2017.

[7][8] In February 2017, Willamette Week reported that Bernstein and Hurteau were planning to open a brick and mortar shop in St. Johns by early April.

In November, Bernstein and Hurteau announced plans to open a second location in the Frederick Torgler Building, which previously housed the craft cocktail bar Mint, in Eliot in December.

[12] Bernstein's got rid of tipping and implemented a service charge in 2024, in order to make wages more consistet and fund employee benefits.

[15] Michael Russell included the shop in The Oregonian's 2019 overview of the forty best inexpensive eateries in the Portland metropolitan area.

[17] During the pandemic, Alex Frane included the business in Thrillist's 2020 list of Portland's best sandwiches for "perfect picnic food".

[6] Brooke Jackson-Glidden included the prosciutto bagel in Eater Portland's 2019 list of the city's "hottest new cheap plates".

Kilmek said the business offers "perfectly chewy" bagels in a "comforting" space, and wrote: "The vibe ... is definitely on par with Portland.