A Mt. Juliet bagel shop is weighing in on the city's biggest football rivalry, and it's doing so one bagel at a time. Starting Monday, Ugly Bagel will sell specially designed bagels honoring both Mt. Juliet's Golden Bears and Green Hill's Hawks, then track which team's bagel sells more.
Golden Bears vs. Hawks, One Bite at a Time
The promotion was announced in a City of Mt. Juliet Facebook post published Saturday night, which said Ugly Bagel and the city are celebrating the Mayor's Cup rivalry between Mt. Juliet and Green Hill. According to the post, Ugly Bagel will offer specially designed team-inspired bagels representing each school, with sales beginning Monday. The post also says Ugly Bagel will tally which team's bagel sells the most, turning breakfast into a makeshift scoreboard for a rivalry that already has plenty of bragging rights on the line.
The post's author also encouraged customers to shop local and support Mt. Juliet businesses, tying the bagel competition to a broader push for community spending. Beyond the fact that sales will be counted, the Facebook announcement does not specify how long the promotion will run or when a winner might be declared.
A Rivalry Green Hill Currently Owns
The timing lines up with a lopsided result on the field. Green Hill defeated Mt. Juliet 39-13 at Roger Perry Field to retain the Mayor's Cup for a third consecutive meeting, according to mainstreetmediatn.com. The outlet reported that Green Hill, then 8-2, jumped out to a 27-0 first-quarter lead after scoring touchdowns on its first four possessions, putting the game out of reach early.
Mt. Juliet won the inaugural Mayor's Cup in 2022, but Green Hill has claimed every meeting since, per the same report. The Hawks closed their regular season with nine straight wins and a 10-1 overall record against Wilson County programs, the outlet noted, underscoring the gap between the two programs heading into this year's rivalry game.
Ugly Bagel's Growing Presence in Mt. Juliet
Ugly Bagel's Mt. Juliet shop sits at 1913 N Mt Juliet Rd #101b, serving the Mount Juliet and Green Hill areas, according to the Ugly Bagel website. The location, in the Everette Downs development, operates daily from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., per a press release from Visit Nashville TN. It marked Ugly Bagel's third location, joining existing shops in Nashville and Franklin, the release noted, with the company describing its Middle Tennessee growth as driven entirely by community demand.
The bagel concept itself is relatively new to the region. Ugly Bagel was founded in 2024 by Middle Tennessee hospitality veterans Jeff Crabiel and Jake Strang, according to franklinis.com. Now, a little more than two years later, the Nashville-born bagel shop finds itself with a courtside seat to one of Wilson County's most lopsided recent rivalries, hoping its own competition between Golden Bears and Hawks bagels makes for a closer contest than the one that played out at Roger Perry Field.
