Tatte Bakery & Café

Tatte Bakery & Café is an American-Mediterranean gourmet fast-casual bakery and café founded by Israeli-born Tzurit Or. Tatte operates 39 locations, most in the Boston area, with the remainder in the metro D.C. region.

History
Tzurit Or, a former film producer who immigrated from Israel to the United States in 2003, began baking family recipes in her kitchen, first selling them in 2007 at the Copley Square Farmer's Market in Boston, Massachusetts. She baked for 20 hours a day to keep up with the demand.

After one summer at the farmer's market, in May 2008 she opened her first brick and mortar storefront, Tatte Fine Cookies & Cakes in the Brookline neighborhood. In the coming years, Or began expanding into the greater Boston area. She expanded into the Kendall Square neighborhood of Cambridge in 2012, opening three locations there in two years. Or's fifth storefront opened in 2015 on Beacon Hill's historic Charles Street, the first Tatte location in Boston proper. After opening a spacious Harvard Square location in 2016, Or began ramping up expansion in the Boston area. Tatte expanded into downtown Boston in 2019 with its Summer Street location, followed by a location at One Boston Place.

Ron Shaich, then CEO of Panera Bread, purchased over 50% ownership of Tatte in 2016. After Shaich parted ways with Panera, he bought Panera's stake in Tatte and continues to be a lead investor. Despite Shaich's majority stake, Tatte continues to operate as an independent company. Or stepped down as CEO in July 2020 following discrimination complaints, but still remains involved in operations and serves as its chief baker.

Tatte opened its first Washington, D.C. bakery in August 2020, located in the West End neighborhood, subsequently expanding into U Street/Cardozo and Dupont Circle, then into D.C. suburbs Bethesda, Maryland and Arlington, Virginia.

Name
Or's daughter inspired the business' name. Although Tatte – which rhymes with "latte" – means "daddy" in Yiddish, young Hebrew speakers often say "tatte" in place of the Hebrew word for grandmother, "savta." While Or was working on her farmer's market stand logo, her young daughter said "tatte" out loud when looking at a photo of her grandmother, which led Or to name her farmer's market stand "Tatte."

Current locations
Tatte's 24 Boston area stores are located in Arlington, Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Newton, and Wellesley. Tatte also has locations on the campuses of three colleges in the city of Boston: Berklee College of Music, Emerson College, and Northeastern University.

Tatte's Washington, D.C. area stores include locations in West End, Dupont Circle, and Foggy Bottom, as well as Bethesda and Arlington. As of December 2023, Tatte has 11 locations in Washington, D.C. and nearby suburbs.