Tartine Plans Coffee Manufactory in Oakland

Tartine Bakery has plans to open something called Coffee Manufactory in Oakland’s Jack London Square, a 5,000 square-foot-space that will serve as the headquarters of Tartine’s newly-formed coffee roasting company.

Though similar in name to Tartine Manufactory — the bakery, restaurant, and general food utopia that opened as a spinoff of the original Tartine Bakery last year — Coffee Manufactory sounds a lot different. For customers, it could be little more than an industrial roasting operation with a small retail component. So far, a pop-up coffee bar serving Tartine pastries and baked goods sometime this fall is all we’re promised. Meanwhile, the full-on Tartine Manufactory is expanding to downtown LA in a space even larger than San Francisco’s.

Tartine is free to pursue its own coffee ambitions after an ill-fated merger effort with Blue Bottle, and Tartine COO Chris Jordan will lead that effort. The port location of Jack London Square will help the company distribute its coffee wholesale, he says.

Tartine’s arrival is good news for Jack London, too, an area whose potential as a vibrant retail and dining hub has long been recognized but never quite realized. That could be changing: Belcampo Meat Co. reiterated its existing plans to open a Jack London Square location today, for example. Just yesterday, Grocery Café opened in a larger Jack London Square space, and Irish pub Sláinte arrived last month.

• Tartine Manufactory Opening Giant Bakery and Restaurant in Downtown LA [Eater LA]
• Tartine Manufactory Is an Artisanal Utopia in the Mission [ESF]
• Jack London Square lands new tenants to join Oakland's brightening restaurant scene [Business Times]