Help LA restaurateurs with Sisterly Love cookie boxes
“Cookies for L.A.” by Sisterly Love Collective offers curated cookie boxes from 40 Philly bakers. All proceeds will be donated to Regarding Her’s Los Angeles Chapter Donation Fund.
When restaurateur Jill Weber saw news of wildfires devastating the Los Angeles area, she felt helpless. But a phone call with James Beard Award-winning restaurateur Ellen Yin sparked an idea: cookie boxes to support the West Coast.
Weber, Yin, and members of Sisterly Love Collective — a group dedicated to empowering women in Philadelphia’s food and hospitality industry — launched “Cookies for LA.” Partnering with 40 Philly bakers and chefs, the collective curated a cookie box fundraiser to aid restaurants and small businesses in LA.
Each $125 box features an assortment of cookies, with all proceeds going to Regarding Her’s Los Angeles Chapter Donation Fund, which supports women-owned businesses in LA’s food and beverage industry. Sisterly Love Collective will match 25% of sales to boost the donation.
“Sisterly Love is mission-driven, and our mission is to help and support female restaurateurs and food entrepreneurs — and so is Regarding Her,” said Weber, owner of Sojourn Philly, which operates Jet Wine Bar, Rex at the Royal, Cafe Ynez, and Sor Ynez. “It just made a whole heck of a lot of sense for us to support them.”
The boxes feature 40 cookies, one from each participating baker. Highlights include gluten-free cornmeal lime zest cookies from Flakely, chocolate almond cookies from Machine Shop, brown butter pecan crescents from People’s Kitchen Philly, Parmesan cornbread cookies from Dreamworld Bakes, and polenta snickerdoodles from Dandelion Bakes. El Merkury, which serves as the pick-up location, will include its signature churros with white chocolate dip.
Orders can be placed online, with pick-ups scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 26, and Monday, Jan. 27, from 2 to 5 p.m. at El Merkury (2104 Chestnut St.)
Initially, the team planned to include 25 cookies per box, but a flood of responses from local bakers eager to contribute expanded the selection.
“It’s not just women helping women — it’s really the whole Philly food community coming together to help these, largely female, restaurateurs in LA,” Weber said. “It’s a wonderful thing to do [with] a good impact — and in the grand scheme of things, it’s easy to make a batch of cookies to help someone in need.”