How Lexington Bakes raises the bar for organic treats

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How Lexington Bakes raises the bar for organic treats

30 May 2025

Maddie Lambert

Maddie Lambert is a copywriter and editor from Joplin, MO. She graduated from Missouri Southern State University with a Bachelor of Arts in English – literary studies. When she’s not poring over the magazine or lost in the pages of a new novel, you can find Maddie exploring her local bookstores, spending time with her husband, or sharing her latest literary discoveries with fellow book enthusiasts.

KANSAS CITY, MO — “Treat yo’ self” may have been coined by the popular sitcom Parks and Recreation, but the phrase has become more than just a comical tagline. The concept is now part of everyday consumer language, and more significantly, often used to permit indulgent snacking.

Los Angeles-based Lexington Bakes (LXB) started as an Instagram post showing off homemade organic brownies, and it turned into a brand that had demand before it even had a name.

Most entrepreneurial origin stories start with the same formula: develop a product, create the brand and seek out customers. LXB — perhaps akin to its founder and CEO — did things a little differently. Lex Evan is nothing if not warm, eccentric and wildly creative. No stranger to entrepreneurial adventures, he’s a principle-driven risk taker.

After moving from New York to Los Angeles to pursue a graphic design career, Evan baked as a hobby, not a gig. That was, until he posted his brownie creations on Instagram, triggering an influx of direct messages from acquaintances in New York. Those messages suddenly turned into requests for him to package and ship his brownies across the country.

Could it have been that easy?

“I wasn’t sure if people would pay $10 for a brownie, let alone more than one, plus two-day cross-country shipping,” Evan said. “It was $50 to ship four brownies. I didn’t believe people would actually pay for that.”

Yet, to his surprise, he received $5,000 in Venmo payments to ship 500 brownies across multiple orders.

Business begins

Recognizing the potential and shifting into an entrepreneurial mindset, Evan planted the seeds of a luxury dessert CPG company. He shipped his first batch of brownies in December 2021 and used the holiday break to build out the brand’s website and complete product formulations.

A month later, LXB officially had an online storefront through Shopify. Assuming brownies would take center stage, the lineup included the original Fleur De Sel flavor, with a later addition of a Hazelnut Crunch variety. The launch also included an organic and fair-trade cookie.

Originally, Evan formulated 10 versions of a chocolate chip cookie. After local taste-testing, the fifth recipe was the crowd favorite. Eventually, batch five, now known as Choc Chip No. 5, made the permanent lineup.

“It’s funny that the brownies started the company, but now Choc Chip No. 5 is taking over,” Evan said. “It has become our number one bestseller.”

“That’s what our brand is all about: doing the hard things that are challenging to do at scale.” — Lex Evan | founder, CEO | Lexington Bakes

At its core, LXB’s trademarked “Radical Ingredient Transparency” and “No Naughty Ingredients” make up the brand’s foundation. All products are made with three standards: real, organic and fair. And everything is made without artificial sweeteners, flavors, preservatives, dyes, sugar alcohols, soy, gums, corn syrups, bleached flour or hydrogenated oils. With the exception of baking soda, LXB is committed to using only organic ingredients.

“I take pride in sourcing real, organic and fair-trade ingredients with respect for people and the planet,” Evan said. “It’s not the easiest thing to do, but there’s always a solution to work around the obstacles. That’s what our brand is all about: doing the hard things that are challenging to do at scale.”

For example, the Cosmic Forest cookie — the brand’s second cookie variety and first vegan and nut-free offering — showcases LXB’s dedication to flavor while remaining faithful to its roots. Wanting the cookie to have the flair of sprinkles without palm oil and artificial coloring, Evan troubleshot various substitutions to find an ingredient that was wholly organic, fair-trade and didn’t compromise on taste.

The final product is made with tahini and coconut oil, applesauce and a dusting of shredded coconut covered with blue spirulina and pink dragon fruit powders to mimic the traditional look of sprinkles … but baked with a twist. The “sprinkles” are added after the cookie comes out of the oven. While typically an untraditional way to incorporate ingredients, this proved to be the workaround LXB was searching for.

“[Finding workarounds] has been one of the greatest hurdles since going all organic,” Evan said. “Of course, we’re going to encounter limitations, but we rise above them and find new ways to do what makes this brand so special.”

This story has been adapted from the April | Q2 2025 issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.

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