The Foodletter (By Female Foodie)
That Was Delicious
21. Connie McDonald & Pam Weekes, Levain Bakery: How Two Hungry Triathletes Created The Iconic 6-Ounce Cookies & Opened One Of The Best Bakeries In The U.S.
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21. Connie McDonald & Pam Weekes, Levain Bakery: How Two Hungry Triathletes Created The Iconic 6-Ounce Cookies & Opened One Of The Best Bakeries In The U.S.

Connie McDonald and Pam Weekes became friends through swimming in Manhattan in 1987. They subsequently started training for Ironman Triathlons and had long hours on the bike together where they explored various entrepreneurial ideas together. Connie had since left her job in investment banking and gone to culinary school and Pam had a stable job in Fashion. The two of them had done catering gigs for friends and businesses in the city over the years, but it wasn’t until 1995 that they decided to take the plunge and open their basement bakery on 74th and Amsterdam that we now affectionately know as Levain Bakery.  

In this episode of That Was Delicious, Brooke explores the full story of the beloved bakery including the early days of Levain, key milestones for the business, how the iconic 6-ounce cookies came to be (spoiler alert: they weren’t even on the menu when they opened), and what’s next for Levain Bakery including their 13 locations and counting. 

Explore the Levain Bakery locations

See Levain Bakery's nationwide shipping options 

Follow Levain Bakery on Instagram

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