Photo by Sarah Owens
Tommy and Lizzie Hiltz are the new owners of Crestline Bagel, including the location in Cahaba Heights. Crestline Bagel specializes in handmade bagels and other baked goods.
Tommie and Lizzie Hiltz never set out to own a restaurant. But when the chance came to take over a Birmingham culinary staple, they knew immediately it was something they couldn’t pass up.
The Hiltzes are the new owners of Crestline Bagel, which operates three locations, including one in Vestavia Hills at 4117 Crosshaven Drive in Cahaba Heights. The bakery is known for its handmade bagels and other baked goods, as well as its loyal customer base and long-tenured staff.
For Lizzie, the connection to Crestline Bagel runs deep. “I grew up here. I’m from Birmingham, and spent my whole life coming to Crestline Bagel, I have really fond and important memories coming with my family, and particularly my dad on the way to school in the morning, and we’ve always loved this place,” she said. “Tommy and I lived in Boston for five years, and prior to that, this was the very last place that we ate. We had the moving truck that we parked over by the tot-lot so we wouldn’t get towed and came here as our very last spot.”
It was Tommie who first brought up the idea of buying the business. “I remember so vividly Tommy calling me and said, ‘There’s a restaurant that I want to buy.’ And my first thought was, you have always said that you would never buy a restaurant. And he said, ‘Well, when you hear what it is,’ he told me it was Crestline Bagel. And my first instinct was, ‘You absolutely have to buy this,’ because I don’t want anyone to change it or sell it off for parts,” Lizzie said.
For the couple, Crestline Bagel represents something larger than just a business.
“The fact that it’s such a heritage business for us, you know, it’s a fixture in the community … I think Birmingham has a small and diminishing number of what I would consider sort of heritage, especially restaurants,” Tommie said. “The opportunity to be able to be part of one of those was really compelling for both of us.”
They also see Crestline Bagel’s longtime staff as a big part of its success. “One thing that I think makes Crestline feel so special is the amount of retention and longevity that a lot of our staff members have,” Lizzie said. “If you come into any of our stores, you’ll probably recognize familiar faces, for people that you’ve seen, not only for months, but years.”
The transition to new ownership has gone smoothly. “So far, knock on wood, we had no turnover during the transition, which was very exciting,” Tommie said.
The Hiltzes say they aren’t planning major changes but are looking at ways to improve operations behind the scenes.
“We’re doing some revamps like that, you know, we’re looking at our online stuff. We’re looking at how we order through the app, and whether there’s going to be delivery options,” Tommie said. “All these things that I think can make it better without fundamentally changing anything that’s been great.”
For Lizzie, it’s about preserving what has made Crestline Bagel special all along.
“I think just general reassurance that we love and care about this brand too,” she said. “We feel a great sense of responsibility and stewardship to maintain the integrity of the brand … and we’re just excited to meet people.”
Tommie echoed that sentiment. “Stewardship is really what we feel about it … we don’t want to change everything,” he said. “It’s not a museum, we’re going to try to update here and there. But the metric that we’ve been using when we sit and talk about what changes we might do is like, is it going to enhance the customer experience?”
For more information, visit crestlinebagel.com or call 205-407-4583.
