Tatte Bakery & Café
 Tatte’s location in Beacon Hill, Boston | |
| Industry | Fast casual restaurant, café, bakery |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2007 in Boston |
| Founder | Tzurit Or |
| Headquarters | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
Area served | |
Key people |
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| Website | tattebakery |
Tatte Bakery & Café is a fast-casual bakery and café with American-Mediterranean influences, established by Israeli-born entrepreneur Tzurit Or. The business manages 44 establishments, predominantly situated in the Boston region, with additional branches located in the D.C. metropolitan area.
History
After relocating from Israel in 2003 and previously working as a film producer, Tzurit Or introduced Tatte by vending family-inspired recipes at Boston’s Copley Square Farmer's Market in 2007. Responding to strong customer interest, she inaugurated the first physical store named Tatte Fine Cookies & Cakes in Brookline during 2008. The brand expanded throughout the greater Boston vicinity, opening multiple outlets in Cambridge by 2014 and establishing its inaugural Boston city location on Charles Street in Beacon Hill in 2015. Subsequent growth included launching a Harvard Square site in 2016 and additional downtown Boston locations by 2019.
In 2016, Ron Shaich, the founder and then-CEO of Panera Bread, acquired a controlling interest in Tatte after departing Panera, becoming a principal investor. Despite this investment, Tatte continues to function autonomously. Or resigned from her CEO position in July 2020 amid workplace discrimination allegations but retains her role as Chief Creative Officer.
Beginning August 2020, Tatte extended its footprint into the Washington, D.C. marketplace with a West End location, later adding stores in the U Street/Cardozo and Dupont Circle districts, followed by expansion into Bethesda, Maryland and Arlington, Virginia suburbs.
This methodical regional growth under Shaich’s financial backing and Or’s creative direction has strengthened Tatte’s position within the fast-casual bakery sector across significant Northeastern urban centers.
Name
The name "Tatte" originates from Or’s daughter. Although "tatte" translates to "daddy" in Yiddish, it is frequently used by young Hebrew speakers as an alternative to "savta," which means grandmother in Hebrew. When designing her farmer's market booth logo, Or’s daughter uttered "tatte" while viewing a photograph of her grandmother, inspiring Or to select the term as the company’s name.
Current locations
Tatte maintains 24 outlets throughout the Boston metropolitan area, including Arlington, Boston proper, Brookline, Cambridge, Newton, and Wellesley. The company also targets academic communities with venues on the campuses of Berklee College of Music, Emerson College, and Northeastern University.
Within the Washington, D.C. corridor, Tatte operates 14 locations distributed across West End, Dupont Circle, Foggy Bottom, Bethesda (Maryland), and Arlington (Virginia), reflecting its deliberate expansion into prominent urban and suburban zones.