Two Boston-area café brands have quietly grown from neighborhood hangouts into a multi-state empire.

Why it matters: Boston-area brands Tatte Bakery & Café and Life Alive Organic Café have expanded to dozens of locations across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.

• Tatte filled much of the cafe void left by Starbucks' closures and has become nearly as ubiquitous in some parts of town as our iconic purple-and-orange coffee chain.
• Sometimes it feels like you can't throw a rock in Boston without it landing in a skillet of shakshuka, one of Tatte's signature dishes.

The expansion comes under the guidance of Ron Shaich and his Act III Holdings investment firm.

• Shaich, who co-founded Au Bon Pain in 1981 and later built Panera Bread, has taken a deliberately different approach to what a regional cafe empire can look like in the 2020s.
• For his new chains, the formula is something of a throwback: patient capital, no outside investors and growth treated as a consequence of quality rather than the target.

State of play: Tatte, founded in 2007 by Israeli-born pastry chef Tzurit Or, has grown to 50 locations across Massachusetts, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and New York.

• Life Alive, a plant-forward vegetarian concept founded in Lowell in 2004, has expanded from three locations to 13 across Massachusetts and the D.C. area.

What they're saying: "Our goal for it is not to be the next Panera or anything else," he said of Tatte. "Our goal for it is to be, without exception, the very best cafe in neighborhoods across this country."

Catch up quick: Shaich founded Act III after leaving Panera, financing it with his own capital.

• That structure removes the pressure that typically warps growth decisions, he tells Axios.
• "Growth is a byproduct. That is what happens when you have a great concept," he has said.

Zoom out: Shaich's first major Act III investment was in Cava, the Washington, D.C.-based Mediterranean fast-casual chain now with over 400 locations in 29 states and Washington, D.C.

• Act III has been a backer of Level99, a Natick-based "eatertainment" venue that combines physical and mental challenges with scratch-made food.
• A location at Disney Springs outside Orlando, Florida, is planned next.

The big picture: Act III's model — founder-friendly governance and a focus on high-quality niche categories — represents a contrarian bet that the next wave of successful restaurant brands won't be built by scaling fast, but by scaling carefully.

What's next: Both brands continue to expand in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast markets.

• Life Alive's new Seaport location signals an appetite for a higher-profile urban footprint in one of Boston's busiest areas.

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Empty nesters are sitting on America's family-size homes.

Why it matters: The people who have the space aren't necessarily the ones who need it — and that's making a tight housing market even tighter.

By the numbers: Compared to millennials with kids, boomer empty nesters own nearly twice the share of homes with three-plus bedrooms (28%).

• Millennial parents own 16% and Gen Z parents own less than 1% of large homes, according to a Redfin analysis of the latest census data, from 2024.

Zoom in: The highest shares of millennial families who own large homes are in Austin, Texas, Columbus, Ohio, and Minneapolis, at roughly 19%.

• The lowest are in Los Angeles (11%), Miami (13%) and San Jose, California (13%).
• And empty-nester boomers own more than 30% of large homes in Memphis, Tennessee, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

The big picture: Older homeowners have plenty of reasons to age in place.

• Many are mortgage-free or locked into low mortgage rates.
• Boomers may also want to stay put to remain near family, keep their routines or avoid packing up decades of belongings.

Meanwhile, millennial families run into both supply and affordability challenges when trying to move into larger homes, per Redfin.

• There aren't enough family-size homes on the market, while high home prices and mortgage rates have priced many younger buyers out.

Yes, but: Millennials have gained ground — from owning around 5% of large U.S. homes in 2014 to 16% in 2024 — partly by buying homes once owned by the Silent Generation, per Redfin.

• Boomer empty nesters who own large homes barely budged in that time.

What we're watching: Whether more large homes hit the market as more homeowners start to give up their low mortgage rates.

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⚾ NESN reportedly pulled a political advertisement from Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner midway through a Red Sox broadcast last week. (The Independent)

• The 15-second spot criticized team ownership for selling stakes to private equity and lamented the 2020 trade of outfielder Mookie Betts.
• Network officials said the commercial was removed for violating advertising standards.

💸 Seventeen life sciences companies, including Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Seismic Therapeutic and PathAI, have to pay back Massachusetts for tax breaks they received after failing to hire enough employees last year. (BBJ)

📚 The Cambridge Friends School announced it will close its doors permanently after 65 years. (Boston.com)

⚽ Soaring ticket prices and immigration fears left many local Haitian soccer fans struggling to get seats for their national team's upcoming June 13 World Cup match against Scotland in Foxborough. (WBUR)

Frantzdy Pierrot, who played soccer at Melrose High School, will play for Haiti in the World Cup.

• He got a proper homecoming with Gov. Maura Healey declaring yesterday Frantzdy Pierrot Day.

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"The Strawberry" at CSCA Cafe (1995 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge) is filled with fresh berries, strawberry compote, crème fraîche mousse, vanilla sponge infused with elderflower liqueur and something called "feuilletine crunch."

• There's also a lemon and their virally famous mango varieties.