Bethenny Frankel’s Supermodel Café Closes in East Quogue After a Brief, Buzz-Filled Run

The celebrity pop-up drew crowds, criticism and plenty of attention to an unlikely Hamptons hamlet. Now that its East Quogue experiment is over, was it a one-summer stunt or a test run for something bigger?

For a few weeks this summer, East Quogue had a supermodel era.

Bethenny Frankel’s Supermodel Café closed Monday, Sept. 7, on Labor Day, ending a brief and decidedly buzzy run that brought long lines, social media attention — and more than a little controversy — to one of the less flashy hamlets on the Hamptons map.

Frankel’s arrival in East Quogue was a conversation before the doors even opened.

Fans turned out in force, with hundreds reportedly lining up for the Aug. 13 opening. But not everyone out East was thrilled by the prospect of a celebrity-driven café serving $10 bagels, chicken salad and “supermodel snacks.” For some locals, the spectacle seemed to represent exactly what they fear the Hamptons are becoming: more celebrity, more social media and more hype.

For others, it was simply fun.

And in East Quogue — which doesn’t usually generate the kind of opening-day frenzy associated with East Hampton, Southampton or Montauk — Supermodel Café undeniably got people talking.

Now, just weeks later, it’s gone.

The café announced the closing on Instagram late last month, describing the East Quogue location as something of a real-world experiment.

“What started as a crazy idea became a real-life focus group with bagels, caviar and a line out the door,” the post said, adding that the team came to “test, listen and learn” and that while the café was closing, “the Supermodel lifestyle is here to stay.”

So did Supermodel Café fail? Or did it do exactly what Frankel intended?

The answer isn’t entirely clear.

Frankel herself was already talking about the customers as research and development shortly after the opening, responding publicly to criticism and even removing a miso tahini offering after negative feedback. She also suggested the concept could keep changing locations and menus and revealed that she had already received an offer involving a Supermodel Café in St. Barts.

But that experimental framing is somewhat different from what Frankel said when the East Quogue café opened.

“It’s perfect,” Frankel told Newsday at the Aug. 13 opening. “We don’t even call it a pop-up anymore, only because it doesn’t feel like one. It’s like the Billy Joel of bagels, we’re going to stay until no one wants to come anymore.”

Well, “Don’t Go Changin’,” as Billy Joel sang. Less than a month later, Bethenny’s East Quogue run was over.

From Instagram phenomenon to East Quogue storefront

The café grew out of Frankel’s enormously popular social media food reviews, including her “Chicken Salad Olympics,” which had Long Island delis and bagel shops sending her their versions of the deli staple for judging.

Its name played off another Frankel social media series, “supermodel snacks,” featuring simple, lighter dishes and snacks.

At 481 Montauk Highway, Frankel turned those online obsessions into an actual menu. Bagels came in flavors including everything, sea salt and cherry vanilla, with spreads ranging from cacio e pepe and spicy sriracha to sweet cream. The café also served signature lattes, chicken salad and other Supermodel-inspired offerings.

For its final stretch, the café introduced the Bryn Berry Bagel, a blueberry bagel with lemon and sweet cream spread named for Frankel’s daughter.

The opening itself became an event. Hundreds of fans reportedly lined up, some traveling from Nassau County to East Quogue to see Frankel and try the food.

There was also an immediate complication.

Hours after the Aug. 13 opening, the Town of Southampton issued a stop-work order, citing alleged violations of New York State Building Code and the town zoning ordinance and stating that a dangerous and unsafe condition existed.

Frankel’s representative said at the time that the team was working with local officials to address the concerns and that the notice did not require the café to close. The business continued operating.

A short run that got people talking

Whether Supermodel Café resurfaces in St. Barts, another Hamptons town or somewhere else entirely remains to be seen.

What East Quogue provided was something Frankel appears to value almost as much as sales: reaction.

There were fans who waited in line. There were critics who mocked the menu. There were locals who wondered what a celebrity “supermodel” café was doing there in the first place. There was a stop-work order. And there was enough online chatter that Frankel openly embraced the criticism, even putting a “Rage Bait Bagel” on the menu.

For a concept she now describes as a real-life focus group, that’s quite a lot of data in less than a month.

And for one brief stretch of summer 2026, East Quogue — hardly the flashiest town in the Hamptons — became part of the celebrity summer conversation.

Some people loved it. Some thought it was a sign of the apocalypse.

Either way, it’s back to Round Swamp for the chicken salad. (And really, who ever left Round Swamp).