Tate’s Bake Shop expands in Westhampton Beach

Tate’s Bake Shop, a Long Island-based maker of cookies and other baked goods, is expanding its warehouse and distribution operations in Westhampton Beach.

Tate’s, which bakes about 1.3 million cookies at its East Moriches manufacturing plant each day, is taking an additional 16,250 square feet of space at the Hampton Business District at Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach, expanding its warehousing operation by about 50 percent. The cookie company already has 37,140 square feet for distribution and corporate functions at the 60,000-square-foot 220 Roger’s Way in the industrial park.

“We have been experiencing tremendous growth for frankly as long as the company has been in existence,” said Maura Mottolese, chief executive of Tate’s Bake Shop. The company, which started as a single bake shop in Southampton in 2000, now has 320 employees, and several facilities on the East End.

Mottolese said management initially thought the company wouldn’t have to expand its distribution operation for at least five years when it first moved to the complex in 2015, but growth has changed its plans.

“We didn’t anticipate the great level of growth we have, because flash forward just two years and we’ve outgrown our warehouse space here,” she said.

The complex’s developer and landlord, Rechler Equity Partners, said Tate’s asked about expanding into its newest building — 200 Roger’s Way — last fall.

“We knew that they have been growing rapidly on a national basis,” said Mitchell Rechler, managing partner at Plainview-based Rechler Equity Partners. “We’re very happy to accommodate a company like Tate’s who is a very successful and a financially strong company.”

The new building Tate’s will use for its expansion is the second of nine buildings planned at the industrial research and development park. The company plans to set up distribution operations in the new space by March, Mottolese said.

When completed, the Hampton Business District will feature over 400,000 square feet of industrial, office and hotel space.

The developer plans to begin construction on the industrial park’s third building — designed for smaller tenants — in the next few months, Rechler said.