In a storefront tucked near Sherman’s Deli and Bristol Farms on Country Club Drive, the morning business begins early.
The staff arrives before dawn. The cases are filled with plain, everything, sesame, jalapeño, and poppy seed bagels among others. Egg sandwiches are made to order. Coffee moves fast. Customers arrive with the confidence of people who already know what they want, or with the curiosity that comes when a famous New York name suddenly appears in the desert.
For Brian Murphy, the local operator behind the new H&H Bagels in Palm Desert, the shop is not a novelty play. It is the result of a years-long search for what he believed Greater Palm Springs did not have enough of: an authentic New York City bagel shop with enough brand strength, operational discipline and local ownership behind it to survive in a market where restaurants can be packed in season and fighting for steadier traffic by midsummer.
The Murphy family celebrates the grand opening while the store fills with eager customers.
“We have Sherman’s next door. We have Bristol Farms. It’s like Little New York here,” Murphy said of the shop’s location at 73131 Country Club Drive, Suite C10.
The Palm Desert shop gives the region its first local outpost of H&H Bagels, the New York brand founded in 1972 and long known for its cultural cameos on “Seinfeld,” “Sex and the City,” “The Office” and other shows. The company has been expanding beyond New York, with locations in several states and a growing franchise program.
But in Palm Desert, the more revealing story may be the local one: a former auto finance executive turned franchise operator, a family-based ownership plan, a bet on year-round demand and an expansion strategy that could eventually add two more H&H locations in the Coachella Valley.
From Car Dealerships to Sandwich Shops
Murphy did not come to the desert looking for bagels first.
He grew up in Detroit and spent 30 years in the auto industry, working in finance roles for Ford Credit and Toyota Credit, and repeatedly moving around the country. His last five years in the business were in Santa Monica, where he oversaw finance operations for 11 dealerships.
He bought a house in the desert in 2011 and moved here full-time in 2018, after deciding that 30 years in the car business was enough. Then he began looking for a business to buy.
After reviewing dozens of options, he bought a Jimmy John’s in Palm Desert. He said it was losing money, but the financial statement was familiar territory.
“People spend so much money on advertising,” Murphy said. “They want to be on a billboard, they want to be on TV, they want to be on the radio, and all of a sudden, they’re not making any money. These are small operations.”
He cut costs, worked long hours and pushed the store into profitability. In 2019, he bought a Jimmy John’s in La Quinta and followed a similar playbook.
That experience shaped the way he views restaurants in Greater Palm Springs. The brand matters. The product matters. But expense control, site selection, family-level accountability and local relationships can determine whether a small operator survives.
Murphy became active in chambers, networking groups and community service. He remains involved with Desert Elite Referral Partners, a local business referral group, and said community work has become central to how he thinks about business. His restaurants donate unused food, including Jimmy John’s products to Martha’s Village & Kitchen and unused bagels from H&H to local food recovery efforts.
The 12-Year Bagel Search
The bagel idea was different.
Murphy said he had been thinking about an authentic New York-style bagel shop for roughly 12 years. During business trips to New York, while others went out for drinks, he went “bagel shop hopping.” He studied franchises. He even worked with a consultant in New York while considering whether to open an independent bagel shop.
Then he saw that H&H Bagels was franchising.
“I picked up the phone,” he said.
The appeal was immediate. H&H had the name, the recipe and the New York association that few food products can claim. Murphy eventually attended the grand opening of an H&H in Santa Monica, loved the product and operating model, and pursued the Greater Palm Springs rights.
He said it took about 17 months from initial contact to opening.
The Palm Desert shop is operated with his daughter Ali and son-in-law John as partners. Murphy said they are part of an equity plan designed to give them a direct ownership incentive in the business, a similar structure to one he has used with a stepdaughter involved in a Nothing Bundt Cakes franchise in Arkansas.
The concept is part family succession plan, part entrepreneurial development strategy.
“They’ve got incentive to make it go,” Murphy said.
What Makes It New York
H&H’s pitch is built around process as much as it is around geography.
The original H&H Bagels store in NYC.
The bagel dough is made and kettle-boiled in New York City, then shipped overnight and baked on-site throughout the day. The flour is unbromated and unbleached, with all-natural, non-GMO ingredients, and no artificial preservatives.
Murphy said the operating model matters because a traditional from-scratch bagel shop is extremely labor-intensive and difficult to scale.
“Same here, 18 hours of work on the dough in New York City, boiled in New York water, original recipe,” he said. “And then they ship the dough out, and we bake it in the morning, so you couldn’t franchise if you did it any other way.”
For customers, the point is simpler: a bagel with the chew, density and flavor associated with New York.
Murphy said the response from New York transplants and serious bagel customers has been encouraging.
“The hardcore New Yorkers in town especially appreciate and love our bagels,” he said.
The top sellers so far, he said, have been everything and plain. He also makes a case for jalapeño and onion while acknowledging that no single regional or specialty preference can drive the menu.
The menu extends beyond bagels and cream cheese. H&H offers breakfast sandwiches, smoked salmon options, lunch sandwiches, catering boxes, babka, black-and-white cookies and coffee. Murphy said one difference from lower-cost breakfast competitors is that the sandwiches use real eggs, bacon and sausage and are prepared to order.
“That’s why sometimes it takes a little while,” he said. “We’re making a large variety of sandwiches to order with the best, fresh ingredients.”
The Summer Test
The opening came at a time when restaurants in the desert must face the region’s annual reality: the sharp seasonal shift when snowbirds leave, daytime heat intensifies and traffic patterns change.
Murphy knows that cycle from his Jimmy John’s locations.
“July and August are about just surviving the cash flow challenges because of a smaller customer base,” he said. “We’re paying our bills, keeping our people employed.”
He said the first weeks for H&H were extremely strong, and even as the summer began, the drop-off from peak desert season days has been very manageable.
“This is a three-month stretch of just breaking even, roughly,” he said. “This is when we take more time to meet our customers, use the time to keep the store in perfect condition, to train the employees, and to now look at sites for a second and third location.”
The comment reflects a seasoned desert operator’s view of growth. In many markets, an opening surge might be enough to trigger a second lease. In the Coachella Valley, especially for a food concept with strong breakfast and lunch traffic, summer can provide a clearer read on whether a business is drawing locals, not just seasonal visitors and opening-month curiosity.
Three Stores, Carefully Placed
Murphy said he signed up for the Coachella Valley with the expectation that the market could ultimately support three H&H Bagels locations.
The search for locations for the next two shops includes some promising areas within La Quinta and Indio.
Palm Springs is also a possible target, but Murphy said that market has a different seasonal profile, with a heavier reliance on tourism and a sharper change in population during the summer.
That is why visibility, trade area and timing matter.
A Franchise Story With a Local Read
H&H Bagels arrives with national brand recognition, but Palm Desert is not New York, Los Angeles or Washington, D.C. It is a market with affluent residents, a deep seasonal population, strong visitor traffic and a long summer slowdown that tests restaurants every year.
Murphy’s bet is that the combination is strong enough: a New York name people recognize, a product that can win over demanding bagel customers, a family-run operating team, and a location near other businesses with similar East Coast familiarity and food traffic.
He also knows history. Other bagel shops have opened in the desert before, only to close.
That does not appear to have scared him off.
“When you’re an entrepreneur, you bet on yourself,” Murphy said. “And you bet on what you’re buying.”
For now, the bet is playing out each morning on Country Club Drive, where the doors open early, the ovens keep running, and the test is not only whether Palm Desert wanted a New York bagel, but whether it wanted this one enough to make H&H a multi-store business in Greater Palm Springs.
