Northeastern Campus: Tatte Bakery Faces New Boycott Push

The campus food landscape at Northeastern University has become a focal point for student activism. Around 35 demonstrators assembled outside the Tatte Bakery and Café near the Marino Recreation Center on October 26 to urge students to withhold their business from the Israeli-founded chain.

Huskies for a Free Palestine, an unofficial student group, organized the event. This is not the first time the group has targeted the location, with similar rallies occurring in March and last November. HFP did not respond to requests for comment from The Huntington News, and several demonstrators on the ground declined interviews.

The group arrived at the bakery around 12:14 p.m. after meeting in Forsyth Park. Speakers presented research linking Tatte executives to the Israeli Defense Forces. The group’s flyer cited Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Form 990 reports from 2011 to 2014, along with updates from CJP’s Israel Emergency Fund.

Vicky Land, senior vice president of brand and amplification at Tatte, acknowledged the protests in an email sent on October 26. She stated that the company respects the right to peaceful expression and recognizes the personal nature of the Middle East conflict for many community members.

Demonstrators chanted phrases such as “Hey, Tatte, you can’t hide, your coffee fuels genocide.” The flyer included images of menu items, describing the act of renaming food as a tool of cultural erasure. It also referenced the Boston Globe’s report that 60 Boston-area Tatte employees resigned in January 2025 after the IRS flagged paperwork discrepancies potentially tied to immigration status.

Valentina Moghaddam, a fifth-year criminal justice and psychology major, addressed the crowd regarding the university’s financial ties to defense contractors. She called the partnerships “disheartening,” noting that Northeastern receives over $70 million in grants and contracts from the Department of Defense. Moghaddam, the director of communications for the Educational Freedom Project, calculated the figure using the USA Spending Website.

She pointed to a 2023 Student Government Association resolution that called for the university to sever ties with private military companies, a measure that was rejected. Northeastern police officers were present at the scene and followed the group to the Egan Research Center at 120 Forsyth Street.

The flyer alleged that Tatte founder Tzurit Or made racist remarks to employees in 2020, leading to her move from chief executive officer to chief creative officer. It also claimed that lead investor Ron Shaich served on the board of Greater Boston’s CJP, an organization the group said funnels millions to the Israeli military.

In her statement, Land clarified that Shaich’s board service ended about a decade ago and that he has never personally contributed to the IDF. She noted that Or, who immigrated from Israel nearly two decades ago, completed her military service in an administrative, unarmed role and is not involved in day-to-day management.

A Northeastern graduate student, speaking anonymously due to fears of retaliation from Lebanon, told The News that students are capable of making informed decisions about where to spend their money. The student noted that Tatte is a major Boston company that draws frequent foot traffic from the campus.