Grand Central Bakery Closing NW Cafe to Expand Production

Grand Central Bakery will be closing its NW cafe in the Sawtooth Building on NW York March 31. But there's a silver lining: The 25-year-old, family-owned company will be using the space to expand production of its line of wholesale breads.

It's kind of a no-brainer. Located in a rather industrial area at NW 22nd and York, the building houses all of Grand Central's Portland bread production as well as its central offices, but it isn't exactly the perfect spot for a cafe.

So they're converting the cafe's 2,000 square feet into additional production space to meet the demand for wholesale breads, buns and rolls, which increased by nearly 12 percent last year.  "We're bursting at the seams — working and baking 24 hours a day," says president and co-owner Ben Davis in a press release. "The additional square footage will allow for more hearth oven space, more proofing space, and 25 percent more room to pack product in delivery, which is very cramped."

Last fall Grand Central also shuttered its NE Weidler cafe, but opened a new location on SE Woodstock. Will this closing prompt the opening of a new cafe elsewhere in town? Communications manger Leslie Cole says, "We are actively looking for new locations in walkable neighborhoods where people live/work (in PDX and Seattle). No lease signed at the moment, though."