our STORY

The first Mud Club was started in Woodstock, New York in 2017 by brothers Nicolas and Gray Ballinger, along with their father Doug. The name is an homage to the famously muddy festival which, ironically, did not take place in the town of Woodstock - it was actually in the nearby town of Bethel.

Doug and his three brothers started in the restaurant business back in Canada, which was the inspiration for our honey-water boiled, Montreal-style bagels. The four of them made their south, opening several restaurants along the way, until they eventually made it to the big apple. Now, the younger generation is following in their footsteps in reverse, returning upstate where they were raised on a farm - in Chatham, NY, which we think is close enough to count. 

Much of what we serve is grown on the same farm the brothers were raised on. The wood we use to bake our wood-fired bagels is chopped by hand on the same stump and with the same axe they used growing up.

So when we say our food comes “from our hands and hearts to yours” we mean it literally - every bagel we serve comes from our own hands and our own hearts.