In a sure sign of downtown San Francisco's upswing, much-beloved Tartine Bakery is planning to open a large outpost in the Financial District, in a former CVS.
Yes, downtown workers — those who go into the office regularly and those who are still on a 3-2 hybrid schedule — will soon be able to grab fresh loaves of Tartine bread on the way home, and get a morning bun and coffee on their way into work.
As the Chronicle reports, Tartine Bakery is taking over the former CVS space at 351 California Street (at Sansome), in the base of the J Harold Dollar Building. The 4,000-square-foot corner space will become a bakery-restaurant and will reportedly service breakfast, lunch, and dinner — though it's not clear if the latter will be like the pizza-focused menu now served at Tartine Manufactory, or something else.
The company plans to debut the new Tartine sometime next year.
Mayor Daniel Lurie issued a statement about the lease, saying, "When iconic San Francisco businesses like Tartine expand downtown, they bring energy and excitement to the heart of our city. This location on the cable car line is a perfect fit — great food for residents and visitors in the middle of downtown."
And, luckily for the Chronicle staff, this puts the new Tartine location just two blocks away from their new offices at 450 Sansome — where they relocated this year as part of the redevelopment that is ongoing at the historic Chronicle building at Fifth and Mission. While the historic building is not supposed to be touched, a 400-unit condo tower is being constructed behind it, and a bridge connecting the Chronicle building to the former Examiner headquarters, where the condo tower is going, needs to be demolished, which is going to imact the HVAC system in the Chronicle building.
Tartine CEO Dar Vasseghi characterized the move downtown as "put[ting] us right in the heart of the city’s next chapter."
The expansion by Tartine will mark the company's fourth location in the city, after the 18th & Guerrero flagship, the Manufactory, and the Inner Sunset location that opened in 2019. Tartine also announced a Mill Valley location last year which has not yet opened, and the company also has seven locations in Los Angeles and six locations Seoul, South Korea.
Separately, we learned this week, Tartine co-founder and master bread baker Chad Robertson is opening a new, 7,500-square-foot bakery in Brooklyn called Altbau. As Grub Street reports, the Williamsburg operation does not appear to be connected to Tartine, and it has an upstairs space that will "be able to host visiting bakers from around the world."
Previously: Tartine Expanding to a New Outpost in Mill Valley, Opening Later This Year
