Sullivan Street Bakery

What Sullivan Street Bakery does

Sullivan Street Bakery is a privately held, founder-owned artisan bread manufacturer founded in 1994 in Soho, New York by baker Jim Lahey, with help from restaurateur Joe Allen. The bakery produces handmade Italian-style breads built on traditional methods, including a natural sourdough starter cultivated for over twenty years, slow-rise fermentation, and hand-shaping. Its flagship technical contribution is the No-Knead Bread method, published by the New York Times in 2006, which became one of the newspaper's most popular recipes and reshaped home baking globally; this method is codified across Lahey's cookbook portfolio (My Bread, My Pizza, The Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook).

The business operates three retail locations (Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea, and Miami, the latter opened in 2017) and runs a wholesale distribution operation delivering fresh bread to over 300 NYC restaurants daily, operating 365 days a year. Revenue is generated through five streams: direct retail sales of bread, pastries, pizzas, and sandwiches; wholesale bread distribution to restaurants and other businesses on quote-based terms; catering services for events (with a $500 minimum and 72-hour notice); and an e-commerce store selling branded merchandise and $35 cookbooks with national shipping. The company is fully founder-controlled with no external investors, has a headcount of 51-100, and has appointed a CFO to manage finance, HR, and strategic planning functions consistent with a maturing multi-location operator.

Name

Sullivan Street Bakery

Legal name

Sullivan Street Bakery

Website

https://sullivanstreetbakery.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Sullivan Street Bakery is a privately held, founder-owned artisan bakery founded in 1994 that produces handmade Italian-style sourdough breads and pastries across three NYC/Miami retail locations and supplies wholesale bread to over 300 NYC restaurants daily.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Artisan Bakery Products

NAICS

Retail Bakeries (311811), Commercial Bakeries (311812), Baked Goods Retailers (445291), Bread and Bakery Product Manufacturing (31181)

SIC

Bakery Products (2050), Retail-Eating Places (5812), Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Retail Bakeries (Bread & Daily Bakery) (THAFAFAA)

Keywords

• Artisan bread baking
• Wholesale bread supply
• Sourdough bread
• Italian bakery products
• Bakery catering services

Headquarters

HQ city

New City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Retail Bread & Pastry Sales: Direct sales of artisan breads, pastries, pizzas, and sandwiches to consumers at brick-and-mortar locations in Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea, and Miami.
2. Wholesale Bread Distribution: Supplying fresh bread to over 300 restaurants in New York City, as well as wholesale product sales to other businesses through product lists for NYC and Miami.
3. Catering Services: Providing pastries, pizzas, and sandwiches for large groups and events in NYC with 72-hour advance notice. Delivery fee applies for orders under $500.
4. Merchandise & Cookbooks: Online store selling branded merchandise (apparel, totes, gifts) and published cookbooks including 'My Bread', 'My Pizza', and 'The Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook' at $35 each. Available for pickup in Hell's Kitchen or national shipping.
5. Wholesale Product Sales: Wholesale bread and pastry products sold to other businesses. Contact for pricing: [email protected] or 212.265.5580 x2.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Sullivan Street Bakery is an Italian-inspired artisan bakery that handcrafts sourdough breads using traditional Italian methods, a natural sourdough starter cultivated for over twenty years, slow-rise fermentation, and hand-shaping of every loaf. The company operates three retail bakery/café locations in Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea, and Miami, supplies fresh bread wholesale to over 300 NYC restaurants, offers catering services for events, and sells branded cookbooks and merchandise online.

Product overview

Sullivan Street Bakery is an Italian-inspired artisan bakery offering handcrafted sourdough breads and pastries. The business operates across three retail locations (Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea, and Miami) and maintains a significant wholesale operation supplying bread to over 300 NYC restaurants. Its product portfolio centers on the core bakery brand with multiple revenue streams: retail sales at physical locations, wholesale bread distribution (NYC and Miami menus featuring distinct product lineups including sourdough varieties like Pizza Bianca, Ciabatta, Pane Pugliese, and specialty items), catering services for events, and an online store selling branded cookbooks (My Bread 15th Anniversary Edition, My Pizza, Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook) and merchandise. All products are built on traditional Italian artisan methods using natural starters cultivated for over twenty years.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sullivan Street Bakery Artisan Bread Italian-inspired artisan sourdough breads and pastries handcrafted using traditional Italian methods, a natural starter cultivated for over twenty years, matured fermentation, and hand-shaping of every loaf. Sold direct to consumers at retail locations and supplied to restaurants across NYC.
• NYC Wholesale Bread & Pastry Wholesale bread and pastry products supplied to NYC restaurants and businesses, including sourdough loaves (Disco Romana, Pizza Bianca, Pane Pugliese), specialty breads (Ciabatta, Ciabattone, Sarè, Strecci), Brioche, and Biscotti Pratesi, ranging from 60g to 2.5kg.
• Miami Wholesale Bread & Pastry Wholesale bread and pastry products for Miami and Florida markets, featuring sourdough varieties such as Stirato, Pugliese, Sesamo, Filone, Truccione Sare, Multigrani, and Rye, along with specialty buns (Bianca Buns, Brioche Buns, Mezzo Doppio).
• Catering Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 300 NYC restaurants receive fresh bread deliveries daily
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature2 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Levain Bakery: NYC-founded artisan bakery known for signature cookies and breads, now operating multiple retail locations across major US cities. Comparable to Sullivan Street in NYC artisan heritage, multi-location retail expansion, and brand-led growth.
• Amy's Bread: NYC-based artisan bakery founded in 1992 producing handmade breads and pastries, with retail locations and wholesale distribution to NYC restaurants and hotels. Directly comparable to Sullivan Street Bakery in craft positioning, B2B wholesale model, and NYC footprint.
• Bien Cuit: Brooklyn-based artisan sourdough bakery and bakery-cafe run by Zachary Golper, with multiple NYC locations and wholesale accounts. Highly comparable to Sullivan Street in its focus on naturally leavened breads, chef-driven quality, and NYC wholesale/retail hybrid model.
• Tom Cat Bakery: Long-standing NYC wholesale artisan bakery supplying artisan breads and pastries to restaurants, hotels, and foodservice operators. Closely comparable to Sullivan Street's B2B wholesale arm serving 300+ NYC restaurants.
• Balthazar Bakery: NYC bakery-cafe concept from the Balthazar Restaurant Group, serving artisan breads, viennoiserie, and pastries to walk-in customers and restaurant clients. Comparable as a NYC bakery-cafe hybrid with restaurant-adjacent positioning.
• Dominique Ansel Bakery: NYC destination bakery from James Beard Award-winning chef Dominique Ansel, producing artisan breads, pastries, and viennoiserie. Comparable as a chef-founded NYC artisan bakery with strong brand recognition and tourism-driven retail demand.
• Maman: NYC-founded cafe-bakery chain with multiple US locations, blending French-inspired pastries, breads, and cafe service. Comparable to Sullivan Street's Chelsea cafe concept and multi-city expansion model.

Emerging players

• Tatte Bakery & Cafe: Boston-origin specialty bakery-cafe chain expanding across major US cities with a focus on pastries, breads, and all-day cafe dining. Comparable as a scaling artisan bakery-cafe concept, though more cafe-led than Sullivan Street's bread-led positioning.

Broad incumbents

• La Brea Bakehouse: Wholesale and retail artisan bread brand from Aryzta/LA Brea Bakery, producing par-baked and fresh artisan breads at industrial scale. Comparable as a wholesale artisan bread supplier to foodservice, though at significantly larger scale and with frozen/par-baked focus.
• Pain Quotidien: International bakery-cafe chain founded in Brussels serving organic breads, pastries, and cafe fare across multiple countries. Comparable as a cafe-bakery concept with global reach and branded retail presence, though operating at much larger scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/sullivanstbakery
• Instagraminstagram.com/sullivanstreetbakery/?hl=en
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sullivan-street-bakery

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Sullivan Street Bakery