Tatte Bakery & Cafe To Open In Newton Centre

NEWTON, MA — When the Panera Bread —a popular meeting place in Newton Centre for a decade— closed for good in December 2020, it left an empty storefront and lamenting customers.

Six months later, construction is underway and a sign indicates that local chain Tatte Bakery, which is owned by Panera, is set to move in.

In addition to coffee and artisan baked goods (think: almond croissant, tarts and tea cakes), Tatte has an all-day breakfast menu that includes things like the Halloumi sunny side breakfast sandwich on a challah roll ($7.50), muesli with house-made granola and topped with fresh fruit and honey ($6.50 / $9.50). There are tartines like the avocado tartine ($11) and various types of shakshuka ($13-$14.50).

Founder Tzurit Or, who grew up in Israel, started Tatte Bakery & Café got her start as a pastry chef bringing her creations to Brookline's farmer's market and schlepping it to other area farmer's markets. Then, in 2008 she opened her first brick-and-mortar bakery in Brookline's St. Mary's Neighborhood. Now, more than a decade later, she has a dozen other cafes in Boston and Cambridge, two in Brookline and three in the Washington D.C. area and a deal with Panera.

Tzurit stepped down as CEO after criticism from a group of current and former Tatte employees last year who said the company had a problem with racial bias and insensitivity.

In response to the criticism, the company said it took several steps from donating $25,000 to social justice groups, hiring a diversity consultant, having a law firm investigate complaints of racism, reworking its human resources department and committing to bring more people of color into management positions, WBUR reported last year.

Other coverage:

Panera To Close Amid Pandemic After Decade In Newton Centre

Panera Buys Majority Share in Boston Food Chain