The exterior of Howbowda Bagel.

Located on Green Street where Drew’s Pizzeria used to be, Howbowda Bagel Co. opened its doors to the public last Thursday and has already received a strong public reaction, on occasion selling out of food before they intended to close their doors for the day.

Ryan McNeily, 22, and Dustin Canter, 23, are former roommates and fraternity brothers who began to toy with the idea of a bagel shop when Ryan used to drive Dustin from campus to the airport for school breaks. They thought their bagel shop could fill two voids on campus — a bagel shop and a place to get breakfast on the go for students and staff with early classes.

Canter, a graduate from the business accounting program, describes the overall idea as, “steamed bagel sandwiches to go at an affordable price.”

The Howbowda menu features bagels, smears and bagel sandwiches along with side items like gourmet potato chips.

Bagels with cream cheese start at $1.49 and most of the bagel sandwiches are around $5. Their bagel sandwiches will satisfy a wide variety of tastes from the Cheesy Chicken BBQ Bagel to the Berry Good Bagel which features turkey, mozzarella, berry cream cheese and red onion on a blueberry bagel.

After the contents of the bagel have been assembled, each bagel is cooked in a steam press.

“The steamers make the shop,” said McNeily, a rhetoric and political sciences graduate. “[It’s a] unique way of preparing our sandwiches.”

The duo decided to use the steam press instead of more traditional cooking methods after seeing it done in a few other bagel shops and they felt that it better fit the college atmosphere.

Because this company was built from the ground up without a commercial chain business plan, the co-owners are using a trial-and-error system and slowly adding aspects to their shop.

“We just need time to work out our system and slowly integrate new products,” said McNeily.

This includes adding lighter cream cheeses as a healthier option and selling their smears, meats and cheeses wholesale like a deli.

They would also like to expand to get more involved in tailgating and other student organizations, said Canter.

Check out the Howbowda Bagel blog at www.vassalcorp.blogspot.com for more information.