Fast forward to a chance meeting twenty years later, the two were reconnected -- and got married shortly thereafter in 2018.
Their full-time jobs, real estate for Jacob and ad sales for Alexandra, were disrupted during the pandemic, but they started baking bagels for family and friends.
One post on their social media led to orders based on donations to charitable causes - front line healthcare workers, the Black Lives Matter movement, and Philadelphia sanitation workers among them - and the business was born.
Kismet Bagels is mostly wholesale but offers city pickups on weekends after placing orders online.
Kismet Bagels | Facebook | Instagram
Saturday pickup location: 1919 Alter Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146
Sunday pickup location: 1405 Frankford Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19125
Pre-orders open Mondays at 9:00am