Torpedo Factory Plans to Add Bread and Chocolate Cafe

The is planning on adding a Bread and Chocolate cafe to its space this summer.

The cafe will be located inside the art center and will offer a selection of coffee beverages, soups, quiches, sandwiches, sweets and treats over the counter, according to Bread and Chocolate Chief Operating Officer Andy Cook.

The roughly 20-seat cafe will occupy a vacant gallery space near the Torpedo Factory’s souvenir stand. The tables and chairs will spill into the art center’s common area.

The size, scale and service are a little different than , Cook said.

“It’s not going to be a fully functional independent restaurant,” Cook said. “Our goal is making part of the visitation experience grow. We designed the lease to be partnership with the Torpedo Factory.”

Harry Mahon, interim CEO at the Torpedo Factory, said a number of restaurants and vendors expressed interest in opening a cafe when the art center announced it wanted to enhance its offerings.

Bread and Chocolate turned out to be the top choice.   

“We’re an Alexandria-based company and we believe in Alexandria,” Cook said. “We’re rooted in town [and] want to be part of the town.”

Mahon said the cafe being considered an “accessory restaurant,” which is a new measure in the city code to allow for things like a Starbucks inside a . The Bread and Chocolate Cafe will be the first to make use of the new categorization.

Cook said a June opening is possible but July is more likely.

Bread and Chocolate currently has four cafe restaurants in the Washington, D.C. region, including its Old Town spot. It also sells baked good weekly at the .