Bread Alone, the Catskills-born bakery that helped normalize organic sourdough long before it was a grocery-store staple, is expanding its Lake Katrine production facility in a move that underscores both its regional roots and its national reach.
The company announced plans for a 15,000-square-foot addition to its existing 26,000-square-foot Ulster County bakery, a site that already produces more than 200,000 loaves of long-fermentation sourdough each week. The expansion—scheduled for completion by the end of 2026—will increase production capacity by more than 50 percent, allowing Bread Alone to scale up distribution across the Northeast and beyond.
“Bread Alone has been committed to organic sourdough since 1983,” said CEO Nels Leader in the announcement. “More than 40 years later, we feel that we are just getting started. This project will set up our team to bake our best sourdough ever.”
That sense of continuity—growth without abandoning first principles—has been central to the company’s identity since its founding. Bread Alone began as a small, family-run bakery in the Catskills with a focus on organic ingredients and traditional fermentation methods. At a time when “artisan bread” was more concept than category, the bakery leaned into long fermentation, whole grains, and ecological responsibility as core practices rather than marketing hooks.
Over the decades, that approach has scaled. Today, Bread Alone’s loaves are sold through major grocery partners including Whole Foods, FreshDirect, Hannaford, and Price Chopper, as well as direct-to-consumer channels through a partnership with Misfits Market. Closer to home, the company operates three Hudson Valley cafes in Woodstock, Boiceville, and Rhinebeck, and maintains a steady presence at a dozen GrowNYC farmers’ markets, bridging local and metropolitan food systems.
The Lake Katrine expansion reflects that dual orientation: a production footprint large enough to serve a regional and national market, paired with a continued investment in sustainability and worker ownership. The facility already incorporates a 196-kilowatt rooftop solar array, while the company’s Boiceville cafe and bakery runs on a larger, fully electrified system powered by a 400-kilowatt array.
In 2026, Bread Alone also transitioned to partial employee ownership through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), adding another layer to its longstanding emphasis on values-driven business practices.
Public funding and local partnerships have played a role in making the expansion possible. The project is supported in part by Empire State Development through a Regional Council Capital Fund Grant, along with Central Hudson, and involves design by Dutton Architecture and construction by Storm King Group.
Elected officials framed the project as both an economic and cultural asset for the region.
“Bread Alone is an incredible Hudson Valley business that’s succeeding in its mission to create quality jobs and leave the world a better place than they found it,” said State Senator Michelle Hinchey. “We’re thrilled that state funding is now helping Bread Alone expand its operations in Lake Katrine, which will strengthen our local economy and support job growth.”
Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger pointed to the company’s broader model. “Bread Alone is a model in so many ways—as a producer of high-quality, healthy, and delicious baked goods, and as a values-driven business that walks the walk in their commitment to sustainability, a strong local food system, and the well-being of their workers,” she said.
Town of Ulster Supervisor James Quigley and U.S. Congressman Pat Ryan echoed that sentiment, emphasizing the company’s decades-long presence in the region and its role as a community anchor.
Construction is already underway, and if the timeline holds, the expanded facility will come online by December 2026. For a company that started with a handful of loaves and a commitment to organic ingredients and long fermentation, it marks another chapter in a slow-rise success story—one measured not just in output, but in the durability of its ideals.
