After a huge wave of Restaurant closures in Los Angeles In 2023, including The Palm Beverly Hills, Woodspoon, Animal, Off Vine, Mohawk Bend, Kinn, Café Tropical and Craft, Hollywood has been dealt another blow: the loss of some of its favorite delights. The expiration of two beloved bakeries, Sweet Lady Jane and Milk Jar Cookies, has saddened many in the industry and raised questions about the sustainability of Los Angeles small businesses.
“No. No. No. heartbroken,” Blake Lively posted on Sweet Lady Jane’s Instagram page after announcing that the legendary celebrity-loved bakery, founded by Jane Lockhart and famous for its delicious Triple Berry Cake, would close all six of its locations on Dec. 31 after 35 years in business. “Sales are not enough to continue doing business in the state of California,” the bakery’s post said. Lockhart could not be reached for comment.
“It was just shocking,” Lisa Olin of Los Angeles’ Cake Monkey Bakery says of Sweet Lady Jane’s closing. Sweet Lady Jane devotees include Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lopez, Kourtney Kardashian, Kurt Russell, Ellen DeGeneres, Jennifer Aniston and Demi Moore; In 2014, fans Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen even invested $2 million in the bakery.
On Saturday, court documents reviewed by the Los Angeles Times revealed that the famous bakery has been facing a Wage Theft Class Action Lawsuit for almost seven months. The company also reportedly suffered from mismanagement.
Jane Lockhart, founder of Sweet Lady Jane.
David Livingston/Getty Images
And January 15 will be the last day to enjoy the sweets at the two locations (Miracle Mile and Encino) of Milk Jar Cookies, whose fans include Margot Robbie, Wanda Sykes, Seth Rogen and Danny Trejo.
“I’m devastated, frankly. That’s certainly not how I saw my company,” says Milk Jar Cookies owner Courtney Cowan, a former television producer. “What we do, we do with a lot of passion and purpose. For us, it has always been about more than just cookies. “We have really ingratiated ourselves with the community and we are all very, very sad.”
Producer Brett Gursky, a Milk Jar Cookies and Sweet Lady Jane enthusiast, adds, “There must be someone in the industry who likes those cakes and cookies and can come in and save these places.”
Also in December, Diamond Bakery, a mainstay of Jewish desserts and bread in the Fairfax district since 1946, announced that was closing (although her recipes were sold to wholesale bakery Bread Los Angeles).
Small businesses in Los Angeles are facing an avalanche of problems. Still reeling from the COVID shutdown, landlords say they face maddening delays in building permits, skyrocketing rents, minimum wage increases, rising food costs and issues with homelessness.
Hollywood strikes hurt, too: “When those orders stop and evaporate for six months, that has a huge impact,” Cowan says. “We fully support the strike as a concept… I personally went to the picket lines many times and handed out cookies. We offered discounts and I think it was something really important and necessary. But what I don’t think is right is that in any labor dispute either side can refuse to talk for weeks while a city disintegrates beneath them.”
And bakeries face their own unique challenges, with thin margins and the need for constant replenishment: “These are perishable products,” Olin says. “It’s not a clothing store or a restaurant where a customer comes in and says, ‘Oh, I want to order this,’ and you make it to order; You must have a full display case. “That’s what a bakery is.”
Cowan now hopes to help other small business owners thrive in Los Angeles. “I have a lot of things I would like to bring to the city council, to the mayor’s office, so I might start with that and make some noise,” he says. “It may be too late for my business, but I have a lot of colleagues hanging on by the same thread, and I’m not being poetic when I say it’s terrible, and small businesses need people’s support.”
January 13, 12:45 p.m. Updated with news of the Sweet Jane Bakery wage theft class action lawsuit.
A version of this story first appeared in the Jan. 10 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here for subscribe.