Gracious Bakery + Cafe

What Gracious Bakery + Cafe does

Gracious Bakery + Cafe is an artisan bakery founded in 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana by husband-and-wife team Megan and Jay Forman. The company operates two retail storefronts — one in the Garden District at 2854 St. Charles Avenue and one in Uptown at 4930 Prytania Street — both open daily from 7:00am. Each day the bakery handcrafts laminated pastries, hand-shaped breads, creative desserts, and unique sandwiches from scratch using French baking techniques and locally roasted coffee.

The business operates four distinct revenue channels. Direct-to-consumer retail sales at the two locations form the core, supplemented by an e-commerce storefront (graciousbakery.company.site) that sells specialty take-home products such as King Cake Kits for at-home baking and decoration. A wholesale B2B channel supplies pastries and breads in bulk to cafés, restaurants, hotels, and specialty shops throughout the greater New Orleans area. A catering line completes the model, with event orders handled by phone and through the Ezcater marketplace platform. The company was acquired in 2019 by Callais Capital Management and now operates as part of its Le Marais Collection hospitality group, with a dedicated leadership team — Leonair Dorsey (Director of Production), Nichelle Glenn (Director of Retail), and Ja'Sion Smith (Director of Wholesale and Catering) — overseeing day-to-day operations and continuing the founders' craft-focused legacy.

Name

Gracious Bakery + Cafe

Legal name

Gracious Bakery + Cafe

Website

https://graciousbakery.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Gracious Bakery + Cafe is a New Orleans artisan bakery founded in 2012, operating two retail storefronts and serving individual consumers, wholesale foodservice partners, catering customers, and e-commerce special-order buyers with handcrafted French-technique pastries and breads.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Artisan Bakery

NAICS

Retail Bakeries (311811), Baked Goods Retailers (445291), Caterers (722320)

SIC

Bakery Products (2050), Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Cafe-Bakeries (Bakery + Coffee/Foodservice) (THAFAFAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Retail Bakeries (Bread & Daily Bakery) (THAFAFAA), Cafe-Bakeries (Coffee + Pastry Focus) (THAFADAG)

Keywords

• Artisan bakery products
• Fresh pastries bread
• Wholesale baked goods
• Bakery catering services
• Specialty coffee retail

Headquarters

HQ city

New Orleans

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Retail Bakery Sales: Direct-to-consumer sales of freshly baked pastries, breads, desserts, sandwiches, and locally roasted coffee at two retail locations. Products are handcrafted daily from scratch.
2. Wholesale B2B: Bulk pastry and bread sales to cafés, restaurants, hotels, and specialty shops throughout the greater New Orleans area and beyond. Gracious bakes products for partners who resell to their own customers.
3. Catering Services: Catering packages for events and gatherings, featuring fresh baked pastries and savory items. Orders placed via phone or Ezcater platform.
4. Special Orders & Take-Home Products: Specialty products like King Cake Kits sold direct to consumers through online ordering platform for at-home preparation.

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Gracious Bakery + Cafe is a multi-location artisan bakery that handcrafts laminated pastries, hand-shaped breads, creative desserts, sandwiches, and locally roasted coffee from scratch each day using French technique. The business also sells take-home King Cake Kits via e-commerce, supplies wholesale baked goods to foodservice partners, and offers catering packages for events.

Product overview

Gracious Bakery + Cafe is a multi-location retail bakery operating as a unified offering with two distinct service channels. The core retail operation offers handcrafted laminated pastries, hand-shaped breads, creative desserts, unique sandwiches, fresh pastries and cakes, and locally roasted coffee, all made from scratch daily. The business extends its offerings through King Cake Kits—a take-home product for customers to bake and decorate their own New Orleans-style King Cakes. Beyond retail, the bakery provides two complementary service lines: Catering Packages for events (coordinated via phone and ezcater platform) and Wholesale Pastries supplied to cafés, restaurants, hotels, and specialty shops throughout the greater New Orleans area.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Retail Bakery Menu (pastries, breads, desserts, sandwiches, coffee) Daily-made handcrafted laminated pastries, hand-shaped artisan breads, creative desserts, unique scratch sandwiches, and locally roasted coffee served at two New Orleans retail storefronts for walk-in customers.
• King Cake Kits Take-home kit containing all ingredients and decorations needed to bake and decorate a New Orleans-style King Cake at home; marketed to families, classrooms, and Carnival gatherings.
• Catering Packages Catering packages of fresh baked pastries and savory items for events and gatherings, ordered by phone or through the Ezcater platform.
• Wholesale Baked Goods Bulk pastry and bread supply to cafés, restaurants, hotels, and specialty shops throughout the greater New Orleans area and beyond for partner resale.

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Willa Jean: New Orleans bakery-cafe founded by chef Kelly Fields offering Southern-influenced pastries, breads, sandwiches, and coffee in a sit-down cafe format. Direct overlap with Gracious in product mix, format, and New Orleans market.
• La Boulangerie: French-style bakery-cafe in New Orleans specializing in French pastries, breads, sandwiches, and coffee using traditional technique. Operates with a similar bakery-plus-cafe model and comparable target customer.
• District Donuts / Sliders / Brew: New Orleans-based cafe concept combining handcrafted baked goods (donuts, pastries), coffee, and savory items in a neighborhood storefront format. Operates as a multi-location bakery-cafe in the same market.
• Breads on Oak: New Orleans artisan bakery and cafe focused on handcrafted breads, pastries, sandwiches, and coffee with an emphasis on local ingredients. Direct comparable on artisanal production and cafe service model.
• Sucre: New Orleans dessert and pastry shop with multiple locations offering French-inspired sweets, pastries, and coffee. Comparable New Orleans presence and pastry-forward cafe positioning, though more dessert-weighted than Gracious.
• Levain Bakery: Multi-location artisan bakery-cafe known for handcrafted baked goods and coffee, having scaled from a single NYC neighborhood store into a national brand. Highly comparable on craft positioning and cafe-bakery format at greater scale.

Broad incumbents

• Tartine Bakery: San Francisco-based artisan bakery-cafe with national brand recognition, offering French-style pastries, breads, and coffee. Comparable on craft technique and bakery-cafe format, though operating at significantly greater scale and broader geographic reach.
• Le Pain Quotidien: International bakery-cafe chain offering organic breads, pastries, sandwiches, and coffee in a communal sit-down format. Comparable bakery-plus-cafe format and menu structure, though operating at much larger scale with broader geographic footprint.
• Panera Bread: National bakery-cafe chain serving breads, pastries, sandwiches, soups, and coffee across hundreds of locations. Represents the scaled competitive ceiling for bakery-cafe concepts and benchmarks what Gracious would need to grow into to compete on accessibility.

Regional players

• Blue Dot Donuts: New Orleans-based craft donut and pastry shop with a small multi-location footprint. Comparable New Orleans presence and artisan baked-goods positioning, though narrower product line than Gracious.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/graciousbakery
• Facebookfacebook.com/graciousbakery
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/gracious-bakery

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Gracious Bakery + Cafe