During the pandemic, while stuck at home with way too much time on their hands, LA-based stylist-turned-interior designer Estee Stanley and her high school best friend, wardrobe stylist Leah Smith, decided to join countless others across the country and attempt to bake banana bread. “We both actually hated banana bread,” Stanley recalls, adding that she always found it dry and lacking flavor. “So we decided to have a contest to find the best recipe.” The two blind taste-tested endless options until they settled on what they both proclaimed to be the best banana bread they had ever tasted: a chocolate chip version filled with chunky bananas that was mouthwateringly delicious and, perhaps most importantly, perfectly moist. “I can’t share our secrets,” Stanley says of the exact recipe. “Well, at least not yet.”
What could have been nothing more than a COVID-born hobby quickly snowballed into a business. The well-connected duo (Stanley’s design clients include Jessica Biel, Patrick Dempsey and Lea Michele, while Smith has styled music videos for Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson and Avril Lavigne) started selling loaves on social media, offering to donate all funds to frontline workers and Baby2Baby. Friends began buying in droves, and after a very generous $25,0000 donation, Stanley and Smith found themselves baking 500 cakes from their home kitchens. “We felt like we had literally gone bananas,” Stanley laughs. And so, Gone Bananas Bread was born.
In the years since, Gone Bananas Bread has become a viral sensation, with backing by Lawrence Longo of Irv’s Burgers and Prince Street Pizza LA, a permanent booth at the Original Farmers Market at the Grove, stands at other farmers markets throughout LA (including Brentwood), city-wide delivery on DoorDash and even nationwide on Goldbelly. The recipes have evolved as well, with offerings including the OG chocolate chip, classic banana, blueberry and banana, pecan, a vegan and gluten-free option and a cinnamon coffee cake-like loaf. There is even banana bread ice cream and pudding, heart-shaped cakes and “bananyays,” tiny bite-size pieces of banana bread that are deep-fried and glazed, similar to donuts.
Now, Gone Bananas Bread has opened its first-ever standalone location right here in Brentwood. “I love this community. A lot of my friends live here,” says Stanley, adding that she and Smith lived together here when they first moved to LA. After searching for more than a year for the perfect spot, the two heard from their friend and agent Jay Luchs that beloved local institution A Votre Santé was downsizing and half of the restaurant space by the Brentwood Country Mart was now available. The duo quickly got to work, and erecting a bright neon sign with their logo on the exterior, catching the attention of anyone passing by. Inside, the 1,000-square-foot-space is a fantastical submersion into the Gone Bananas Bread world. “We kept the design of the store true to our brand colors, ensuring a cohesive and immersive experience,” says Smith of the shop, which is done in their signature pink, yellow, burnt orange and chocolate brown palette with white and pink marble and several tables and chairs out front. Merch lines the walls, including T-shirts and hats emblazoned with cartoon bananas and the brand’s signature slogan, “Crazy Moist,” and in the middle, an impressive bubble-like display counter shows off their wares. In addition to banana bread, the Brentwood location sells pastries, candies, soft drinks and Dreamy Coffee, which Stanley discovered in Sag Harbour, New York. “They have the best self-serve cold brew I’ve ever had,” she explains; “I knew we needed to get it to the west coast.” There will also be limited-edition drops and celebrity collabs—the store opened with Ellen Pompeo’s “Banana Chocolatte” coffee flavor, and they will be launching a boozy glazed version with Chelsea Handler this month.
At the end of the day, Gone Bananas Bread is all about having fun. “We wanted the shop to feel playful, modern and happy,” Stanley explains. “Life seems pretty heavy right now, so we wanted to bring some joy.”
13016 San Vicente Blvd., 310-310-2404, gonebananasbread.com