I’m Daniela Ruby Varela, founder of Ruby’s Bagels. I’m a first-generation Mexican American. Born in El Paso, Texas and raised in Milwaukee. My love for food started young, shaped by the women in my family. I grew up watching my mom and tias cook and learned how ingredients tell stories.

My first memory of bagels? My mom coming home from her shifts at Patrick Cudahy with onion bagels and a tub of plain  cream cheese from the grocery store. 

Years later, in 2017, I had a bagel on a road trip in Cleveland that blew me away. It took a year of experimenting, but I finally created a bagel that I really loved. It was surely a science experiment, but I did it.

What started as a passion project became Ruby’s Bagels. I started to sell bagels at throughout the city in my little wooden crates, shortly moved into a rented food truck at Zócalo Food Park, years later we were able to purchase our own and now we are a full shop and growing team. RB isn’t just about good bagels but it’s also about family, community, and creating opportunities.