A ‘viral bagel’ craze from Instagram and TikTok is coming to Fort Worth near TCU
A TikTok phenomenon bagel shop is coming to Forest Park Boulevard, with the long lines of customers that follow.
Dan’s Bagels, which has drawn lines out the door ever since TikTok personalities came to its Denton County location, will open in a former bakery and cookie shop at 2430 Forest Park Blvd. near TCU and the Fort Worth Zoo.
Dan’s, inspired by bagel shops in Connecticut, is known for sourdough bagels in a wide variety of flavors and colors.
On a recent rainy Saturday, customers lined up 30 deep outside the door at the original Dan’s at 301 Trophy Lake Drive in Trophy Club.
“We have a lot of TCU students who come up, and they’re already excited,” said co-founder Dan Hilbert.
Hilbert and his family moved from Fairfield, Connecticut, in 2017 and missed the sourdough-style bagels from back home, softer than the traditional New York bagel.
He and his wife, Jennifer, started baking and selling bagels from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
They quickly found out that North Texas is bagel-starved.
Boopa’s in north Fort Worth has been a standard for 20 years, and several others shops have opened over the last half-century. But it was not until 2020 that Dallas’ Shug’s drew local fame and launched its new-wave bagel empire.
Dan’s serves bagels in 22 flavors, along with bagels-and-lox (overnighted from New York) with cream cheese and also breakfast or lunch bagel sandwiches.
It’s not a New York bagel. But it’s easier if you’re sensitive to gluten
The New York touches include Dr. Brown’s sodas and Hal’s New York Kettle Chips.
“People call us a New York bagel, but we’re not really a New York-style bagel — New York bagels aren’t sourdough,” Hilbert said.
“It has a bit of sourdough flavor. And it’s better for gluten sensitivity. ... The turkey club (sandwich) flies out the door.”
Figuring they needed to promote a home baking business, the Hilberts used TikTok and Instagram to show off their bagels from the start.
The first day they advertised, they sold 1,000 bagels in 7 minutes, Hilbert said.
They give credit to the many social media foodie accounts such as “@blondeswhoeat,” by Dallas blogger Kristi Keith.
Instagram, TikTok made Dan’s a ‘viral bagel’
“They made us a viral bagel,” Hilbert said.
In January, 2024, Keith posted a video on Instagram and TikTok about a double-toasted sausage-egg-and-cheddar sandwich on a jalapeno-cheddar bagel.
“Listen up #Dallas peeps,” she wrote in a typical social-media pitch to her now-310,000 followers: “You’re also about to have some of the best bagels you’ll ever have in your life! ... [Dan’s] is worth the drive, the plane ride, the wait in line. It’s that phenomenal.”
Other TikTok and Instagram accounts followed.
If you’re not familiar with the “TikTok phenomenon,” mostly it involves one foodie posting gushing praise for a restaurant. Sometimes it’s personal comment, sometimes paid advertising that doesn’t include the legally required disclosure.
If the video is clever, it draws traffic like the 4,400 “likes” across both platforms for the original Dan’s post. Other accounts quickly do their own posts.
The regular Dan’s Bagels account has 31,100 followers on Instagram.
So, expect lines to pop up on Forest Park Boulevard at the corner of Park Hill Drive, in the shop where Black Rooster Bakery started before it moved, lately home to a cookie shop.
The shop will look exactly like the Trophy Club store, which features a long order counter and bagel rack, Hilbert said. The walls are covered in New York images.
The franchisees at the Fort Worth store expect to open by summer, Hilbert said. A third store at 8595 U.S. 377 in Argyle will open in late June, he said.
The Trophy Club shop is open daily except Monday for breakfast and lunch until 1 p.m.
This story was originally published April 7, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
