Ludlow Street Sends ‘Kind Regards’ to Former Cake Shop Space

The old Cake Shop space at 152 Ludlow Street has been locked up pretty tight post-closure. Layers of butcher paper in the windows shields any would-be snoops from spying the innards. Today, though, we can reveal the replacement. It’s a new cocktail bar called Kind Regards.

When Cake Shop went bust in late-December, owner-brothers Nick and Andy Bodor telegraphed that the replacement establishment would in no way resemble its predecessor. That it would be more like a “regular bar” without any live music. Well, according to its social media footprint, 152 Ludlow will become a bi-level “cocktail bar and lounge.”

One Thatcher Shultz put out an employment call on Monday seeking bartenders, bar-backs, and a cocktail server/bottle girl for Kind Regards. It appears the Bodors decided to bring in Shultz, who is part-owner of the Black Lodge on Prince Street, and soon-to-open West Village bar The Lately. Curiously, he’s also co-founder of a dating app called The League. (He’s not on the liquor license, though.)

To date, Kind Regards has yet to appear on Community Board 3 agendas for an alteration to the liquor license. This is a change in method of operation. But that could change…

Kind Regards is scheduled to open later this month. Here’s a teaser of what to expect – lots of teal. And the notoriously sloped basement now boasts archways.

Founding owners Nick and Andy Bodor pulled the plug on Cake Shop back in December, eleven years after its founding. The recent past wasn’t so kind to the bottom line. Business on Ludlow Street was struggling, that was no secret. “Location and sustainability in our current and long running model have been an issue for more than a long time, as I’m sure you’ve heard me whine about for years,” ownership noted in a prior communique to supporters. “As beloved to you and me as it is, we are failing to keep up with the bills, we have been for years.”