Tartine Bakery Merges With Blue Bottle Coffee For Expansion To New York, Tokyo, And Los Angeles

Tartine — the beloved San Francisco bakery from James Beard Award-winning pastry chefs Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt — has completed a merger with artisan roaster Blue Bottle Coffee that will allow the bakery to open locations in New York, Los Angeles, and Tokyo, all within the next year.

As part of the deal, Tartine Bakery will continue to operate as a separate company, and the restaurant Bar Tartine will be sold to its head chefs, Nicolaus Balla and Cortney Burns, according to The New York Times.

"I can't think of a more influential baker than Chad," food writer Michael Pollan once wrote of Robertson. "His devotion to flavor and aesthetics has helped change the image of whole grain from something dutiful and nutritious to something you eat because it's delicious."

The decision to partner with Blue Bottle was the last step in Tartine's expansion plans, Robertson told the Times. Both companies have come to be known as small-scale artisanal producers whose popularity has attracted the eager attention of investors.

"As Blue Bottle has grown, it's improved, and that is unusual," said Robertson. "Everyone says they're going to get better when they get bigger, but it doesn't usually happen. Blue Bottle really stands out in that way."