Edible Food Find: Middle Street Foods
Photos by Michael Piazza
Middle Street Foods owner Emma Ozment has had a lifelong relationship with the beloved Newburyport café and bakery, although she’s been the owner only since 2024. “I started coming here as a baby. My roots in Newburyport are at Middle Street Foods and it has always felt like home to me,” she says.
Ozment grew up in nearby Newbury, moving to California at age 19 for culinary school. She returned to Massachusetts in 2010 and began working mostly at casual fine-dining restaurants and bakeries, including Mariposa Bakery in Cambridge, Steel and Rye in Milton and Eastern Standard in Boston.
She took any opportunity to continue learning, eventually becoming an executive pastry chef. She also returned regularly to Middle Street Foods, always ordering the exact same veggie sandwich.
Ozment’s business and creative partner, Melissa Croteau, also grew up in Massachusetts and began her culinary career at an early age, through her high school’s culinary program and then on to culinary school. She mainly worked at private country clubs in the area, starting as a pastry intern and moving up to executive sous chef.
Ozment and Croteau’s paths crossed in 2023 while working at the same bakery, where Croteau was the sous chef to executive pastry chef Ozment. The two became fast friends, and when Ozment decided to launch her own business, she knew that she wanted Croteau to join her.
“We have such an eclectic culinary history between the two of us,” Ozment says. “We’ve both run kitchens. We want things to be right and we want things to be beautiful. Quality is incredibly important to us. We listen to each other and we respect each other’s visions.”
Ozment toured a few North Shore locations and realized that what she really wanted was to purchase Middle Street Foods. Just a week later, she learned that it was available. She toured the place in October 2023, sent a video of it to Croteau and decided to make an offer. A few months later, she purchased the business and became only the third owner since it opened in 1983. Croteau adds that although she didn’t know Middle Street Foods at the time, she knew through Ozment that they were taking on a big responsibility because it was so beloved.
“Middle Street Foods is super important to our regular customers,” Ozment emphasizes. “It’s an institution. Not many places like this exist anymore and we don’t want it not to exist.”
Local artwork colors the walls and is often for sale. There’s a community bulletin board, filled with flyers about everything from school fundraisers to art shows to book sales at the local library. Below that sits a painted dresser often topped with pickups from a local flower CSA. Leftover food is donated to a local food bank or brought to neighboring businesses. “We have real relationships with people who are here all the time,” Croteau adds.
“We bake from scratch daily,” says Ozment. “We make our own artisan breads, pastries, pickles, vinaigrettes, soups, cookies, the toffee in our toffee cookies; literally everything that we can make from scratch, we do. We use seasonal and local ingredients whenever possible. I’m incredibly proud of every single thing we make. People can come here, listen to some decent indie music and eat something fresh and real that was made with care by someone who wants to make their day. The best part is when someone smiles and says how much they love it.”
Ozment and Crouteau are excited about the growth they’ve experienced since taking over the business and have many ideas for its future. Ozment does all the baking and Croteau takes care of savory items, drink specials and the front of the house. Operating in an historic building (the foundation dates back to the early 1800s) with a “shockingly small” kitchen has unique challenges, they say, yet they’re eager to try new things and expand the menu as they welcome new customers with the regulars and continue to grow.
“I just love being a part of this community,” Ozment says. “This really is my home and has been for a very long time. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
middlestreetfoods.com // 25 Middle St., Newburyport
This story appeared in the Fall 2026 issue.
