Panera Bread Co. has acquired a 50.01% stake in Tatte Bakery & Café, said Mike Bufano, Panera’s chief financial officer, in a Feb. 10 earnings call. Tatte, a five-store urban craft bakery in the Boston area, offers breakfast and lunch, he said.

“The concept appeals to high-end customers,” Bufano said. “In fact, their pastries and other confections were featured on Oprah’s ‘favorite things’ list. We view Tatte as a wonderful brand with significant growth potential in residential urban and upscale suburban markets.”

St. Louis-based Panera Bread Co. made the transaction in the fourth quarter of 2015 and has options to acquire a greater stake in the future, he said. Tatte Bakery & Café will continue to operate as an independent company with support from Panera as appropriate, Bufano said.

Tzurit Or, a pastry chef and native of Israel, started Tatte Bakery & Café out of her home kitchen in 2007. She originally sold her products at farmers’ markets in Boston and then expanded to a brick-and-mortar bakery in Brookline, Mass. Three shops now are open in Cambridge, Mass., while one is in Brookline and one is in Boston.

Tatte Bakery & Café caters a wide variety of events, including some in their own event spaces. “We host events in our spaces during the weekends and mornings, and customers also often ask us to cater in their houses,” Or recently told bake magazine. “We offer our design services for an additional charge, so you can go from a simple pick-up catering to a full-service catering with us.”