Leavity Bread & Coffee
Leavity Bread & Coffee ferments every bread it bakes, from the sourdough to the focaccia, for more than twenty hours.
Why go
Todd Bradley had never worked in a bakery when he took over Bread Riot Bakehouse, a wholesale bread business, in early 2023. Sam Pew, a home baker, joined him after volunteering a few shifts (Salt Lake Sideways). Bradley renamed the bakery Leavity in 2024, a mashup of leavened
and levity
, and opened its cafe on Main Street in the Ballpark district that October. He told Kolbie Peterson of the Salt Lake Tribune in 2025 that he chose bread and coffee
because they were the ways that I knew how to do it that bring people together
(Salt Lake Tribune).
The bakers work with organic, heirloom and whole-grain flours, spelt among them. Bradley told the Tribune that the long fermentation makes the bread more flavorful. You can watch the bakers make about 300 loaves a day through an open window into the kitchen. Peterson's advice is to arrive early for the loaf you want (Salt Lake Tribune). Her Dish of the Week was the jambon-beurre, Olympia Provisions ham and butter on the house baguette. She praised the sweet and smoky ham combining nicely with the saltiness of the butter
(Salt Lake Tribune).
After hours the kitchen changes hands. Salt Lake Magazine gave its 2026 Dining Awards special honor, Knives Without Borders, to Sam Pew's Secret Pizza Club, the pop-up he runs every other week in Leavity's space. The magazine thanked phenomenal Leavity Bread & Coffee for handing over the keys
(Salt Lake Magazine).
Order this / avoid
- Order: the jambon-beurre. In 2025 Kolbie Peterson called it
a song of taste and texture
.1
What locals & experts say
- Kolbie Peterson, Salt Lake Tribune (2025), on the baguette:
Chewy and soft yet crispy, this bread couldn't be a better vehicle for these ingredients.
1 - Todd Bradley, to Salt Lake Sideways (2024):
I want Leavity to be more than a bakery or a coffee shop.
2
Good to know
- When: every day but Monday, from breakfast into the early afternoon (Salt Lake Tribune, 2025).1
- Also on the counter: sandwiches, toasts, scones and tea, with coffee from King's Peak Coffee Roasters.1
- Laganes: a Greek flatbread covered in black and white sesame and fennel seeds. City Cast Salt Lake listed it among the city's best breads in 2026.4
- Elsewhere: Caputo's and Liberty Heights Fresh sell the bread.1
- Where: 1000 South Main Street, Suite 101.
Verdict
could-visit — Go in the morning for coffee and the ham-and-butter sandwich, and take a loaf home with you. It closes on Mondays.