Life – like a bagel – is a full circle. For Brother Gabe Rubin (Cincinnati, 2015), life now revolves around bagels, but it always comes back to the same thing: the connection to his Jewish identity that he first found as a freshman at the University of Cincinnati in the Omicron Deuteron chapter of AEPi. And, it comes back around to bagels, too.

“I didn’t really connect to my Judaism all that much growing up (in Middletown, Ohio) but when I got to college, there was a girl on my floor who was Jewish and she introduced me to a guy who was also Jewish and we went to a party and ended up pledging AEPi together. To be honest, I didn’t think I was going to be a part of fraternities or Jewish life when I went to college and the first thing I did when I got there is join the Jewish fraternity,” said Rubin.

After initiation, Gabe threw himself into chapter leadership serving in a number of roles including social chair, exchequer (treasurer), and lieutenant master (vice president). At the same time, he was majoring in electrical engineering and, before he left Cincinnati, he also received his MBA.

After working in Cincinnati for a while he moved to San Diego to work for a construction company. The next stop on Gabe’s circle occurred shortly after moving to San Diego. “I went to a Shabbat dinner at Moishe House the first month I lived there and I met a woman there who is now my wife!”

Deciding that the construction lifestyle wasn’t conducive to a placid lifestyle, he began working in software development for construction team. And, then COVID hit.

“My COVID hobby became making bagels. I’ve always made a lot of breads and enjoyed cooking. When I was lieutenant master at AEPi, I would make dinner for our chapter meetings every week. But other than that, I did not have any experience. I just said, ‘Let’s figure it out.’ I didn’t think there were any good bagels in San Diego. I would make them at my kids’ birthday parties, and everyone was like, oh, these are so good, and that was the start of it.”

In December of last year, Gabe gave his notice and began his career as a full-time bagel entrepreneur, starting with a bagel truck. “We were very successful very quickly. We’re kosher — Cholov Yisroel – but most of our customers are not religious or even Jewish! We live in a post-college party beach town kind of place but everybody’s looking for a good bagel, you know?”

After two months, Mission Bagels was already a success, so they opened up a storefront (located at 1344 Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach). By that time, Gabe’s sister and brother-in-law had joined his family in San Diego and began helping with the operation.

The life of a bagel store owner is not glamorous. “When I first started, it was up at 2:00 a.m. every day, go into the kitchen and start making bagels. We’d drop them off at the truck and then somebody else would do the selling but some days I was also on the truck! As we’ve grown, I found somebody else to do the baking so I go and make the dough at two or three in the morning and then I go back home around four or five in the morning so I can take the kids to school and then I keep running around between the truck, the store and now we’re doing catering.”

Gabe’s Jewish journey, which began in earnest in college, has come full circle. “When I went to college and, through AEPi, became stronger in my Jewish identity, I started going to Hillel and Chabad. And, when I moved here to San Diego, there’s a big community. I’ve been Shomer Shabbos (Sabbath observant) for four years now. I knew I wanted to do something kosher here because there aren’t a lot of kosher restaurants. People still come in and ask for a bacon, egg and cheese bagel and I say that we can’t do it. Sometimes, people get upset when they come to get bagels on Shabbos and we aren’t open…I tell them that we’re like the Jewish Chick-Fil-A!”

AEPi has continued to play a role in Gabe’s story. “Just before I started this business, I went up to Seattle in January. The brother who was chapter master when I was lieutenant master lives there and he was about to have a baby, so I went up there with my kids. Seattle having a big bagel renaissance and I went up and tried a bunch of different bagels and got some good ideas. That really started me on this path and where I knew I was making the right decision. My fraternity brothers are still among my biggest supporters.”

Life comes full circle, but it’s better with a little schmear and some brotherhood.

If you’re in San Diego, make sure to visit Brother Rubin at Mission Bagels, order some online, or have him cater your next event! Visit www.missionbagel.com for more information.

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(This is the last Friday PiDay article AEPi will publish in 2025. We’re looking forward to coming back in 2026 with more articles about undergraduate and alumni brothers who are excelling on their campuses, in their professions or in their communities. If you know of someone we should feature, let us know at [email protected]!)