The Manufactory, a 40,000-square-foot restaurant-retail hybrid in downtown Los Angeles anchored by the Tartine Bakery brand, closed Monday after little more than 10 months in business and two years of construction.
A Tartine representative told Restaurant Business that the closure comes after attempting several changes to the concept over the past several months.
“We are extremely grateful to the Los Angeles community for their patronage and support this past year, and especially to our many team members whose help and hard work contributed to making The Manufactory what it was,” Tartine founder Chad Robertson said in a statement.
A Tartine location remains open in Hollywood, with two more of the brand’s bakeries slated to open in southern California early next year.
The massive space was home to two restaurants, Tartine Bianco and Alameda Supper Club. The project was a joint effort between Chris Bianco of Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix and Tartine’s Robertson and co-founder Elisabeth Prueitt.
“I’ve agonized over it for months,” Robertson told the Los Angeles Times. “But it’s just a responsible business decision because it’s been a challenge to pay our staff and purveyors. It was losing money.”
The Times called The Manufactory “one of L.A.’s most ambitious and expensive restaurant projects in years.”
The Manufactory also included a coffee roastery, a walk-up window selling coffee and ice cream, and a retail space selling grab-and-go baked goods and prepared foods. The operation’s wholesale bakery is the only portion that remains open, according to the newspaper.
Tartine began as a wood-fired bakery in San Francisco in 2002.
While it didn’t have as many concepts as a traditional food hall, The Manufactory offered a similar consumer experience. It joins several other multiconcept, restaurant-retail hybrid operations in closing recently. Last month, Chicago’s Fulton Galley food hall closed after about five months in business. In July, Revolution Hall in the Twin Cities suburb of Roseville, Minn., shuttered after less than eight months, promising to return with a new concept featuring local vendors. And Seattle restaurateur Tom Douglas recently announced he’d be closing his multiconcept dining hub early next year. Douglas’ operation includes a bento restaurant, juice stand, cafe, bar, market and deli.
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