Brooklyn Water Bagels, based in Florida, is looking to expand into the southeast, Texas and Michigan, and Alabama is on its radar.

Daniel Smith, CEO of the company, said the brand is open to franchise partners in all of the state’s major metro areas, such as Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile and Huntsville.

“We’re looking for some solid operators who have had success in our industry,” Smith said. “We feel we have a promising model and we want to build on the success we’ve had.”

The breakfast-centric fast casual restaurant chain also serves lunch and has 15 locations in Florida, with another six currently under construction.

Brooklyn Water Bagels relies on its own water filtration system, which is then used to boil the bagels in the old-world recipe before they baked in the store. This allows them to be crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside.

The restaurant offers 14 different varieties of bagels with different kinds of cream cheese spreads. Smith said his favorite bagel is the everything bagel, while enjoys the corned beef and spicy mustard sandwich for lunch.

“If you’ve ever had a New York bagel, part of what makes it so great is the water,” Smith said.

Brooklyn Water Bagels also offers its own coffee, made with Arabica coffee beans in its own roastery and the in-house water system.

“We have very popular iced coffee, with coffee ice cubes that allow the flavor to stay longer,” he said.

Anyone interested in franchise opportunities should visit the website. The chain is looking for multi-location deals.

Smith said the current restaurant terrain shows there is room for chains that offer quality, affordable products.

Menu items include muffins and cookies, all-day breakfast sandwiches, soups, wraps, salads, sandwiches and hot dogs.