• Courtesy
• From left: Avery, Hayden, Kyle and Tammy Fersing at the Burlington Bagel Bakery's Essex location in 2022

The family behind the three-location Burlington Bagel Bakery plans to open a fourth bakery in Williston this fall in the former Friendly's restaurant at 5876 Williston Road.

Avery Fersing, 27, co-owns the business with her parents, Kyle and Tammy, and her brother, Hayden. They run bakeries on Church Street in Burlington, on Shelburne Road in South Burlington and on Susie Wilson Road in Essex.

Avery said the family was not actively looking to add another location, but they saw the high-traffic spot at the intersection of Routes 2 and 2A as a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity.

It is the first Vermont location the Fersings will convert from scratch into a bagel bakery. The building has good bones, Avery said, but from a bagel operation standpoint, "it's a gut job."

Kyle and Tammy worked in the bagel business in Colorado before moving to Vermont and buying the Burlington Bagel Bakery on Shelburne Road in South Burlington in 2000. In 2018, they added their Church Street bakery in a former home of Bruegger's Bagels. The Essex location they opened in 2022 was formerly the Bagel Market Bakery & Café.