Bub’s Bakery is bringing delicious treats to NoHo.
Photos by Chantal Mann
There’s nothing better than a sugary, buttery baked good made with plenty of eggs and dairy. These delicious treats, however, are impossible to enjoy for the approximately 33 million Americans with food allergies — a problem that Bub’s Bakery is looking to solve.
Bub’s Bakery, which opened in NoHo in September 2025, is the city’s first dedicated allergen-free bakery. Founded by Jenn Saesue of 55 Hospitality and James Beard-nominated baker Melissa Weller, Bub’s Bakery is on a mission to create delicious baked goods that are accessible to all New Yorkers. The bakery completely avoids the top nine food allergens — soy, eggs, dairy, nuts, peanuts, wheat, sesame, fish and shellfish — and uses certified gluten-free ingredients.
But that wasn’t always the plan. At first, Saesue and Weller planned to only omit gluten, eggs, dairy and nuts. After another month, they added soy to that list. And by the time they were ready to open, they had successfully created a full menu — which includes cinnamon rolls, chocolate chip cookies, banana pudding, cupcakes and sandwiches — that was top nine allergen-free.
The inspiration for Bub’s Bakery came after Saesue’s failed attempt to find an allergen-free birthday cake for her husband — whom she calls Bub — three years ago. That experience inspired her to start a bakery that creates treats everyone can enjoy. Saesue then reached out to Weller to help with recipe development.
Bub’s Bakery menu options.Photos by Chantal Mann
“I was up for the challenge,” Weller said. “I have an engineering background and a baking background, and it sounded very exciting to me to test new things that I hadn’t made before.”
Recipe research and development took two and a half years, with Weller continuously going back to completed recipes to finetune them until they were perfect.
Despite being completely allergen-free, everything at Bub’s Bakery tastes just like regular pastries. The most important thing to Weller was to ensure that nothing tasted gluten-free or that it was lacking a key ingredient: “I wanted everything to taste as good or better than what you find in a bakery that does use those ingredients,” she said.
The bakery’s top seller, and the pastry that took the longest to perfect, is their cinnamon roll. It was the first recipe that Weller came up with, and it got the stamp of approval during its first taste test. But as Weller continued working on other recipes and raising the level of quality, she decided to give it another shot to use all the new knowledge she had gained during the process.
Bub’s Bakery menu options.
“It was right before we opened that I came up with the final version of the cinnamon roll,” Weller said. “It took a lot of fails to get to the point where I was happy with it.”
All of that trial and error has certainly proved worthwhile. Lines frequently wrap around the outside of the store, and happy customers can be spotted sitting on yellow benches on Lafayette Street, enjoying their delicious pastries.
For Weller, that response has been the greatest gift of all.
“Seeing people’s expressions when they try the pastries, if they haven’t been able to enjoy a cinnamon roll in years, seeing their face when they first try it is really rewarding,” Weller said.
Bub’s Bakery is located at 325 Lafayette St., with more information available online.