Sweet Lady Jane Encino
Cake shop · Encino
16403 Ventura Blvd suite c, Encino, CA 91436
Highlights
Laid-back cafe & bakery with decadent desserts & light lunch.
Laid-back cafe & bakery with decadent desserts & light lunch.
"Sweet Lady Jane makes everything from tarts to cookies to cakes, but definitely call your nearest location (West Hollywood, Encino, and Santa Monica) to see what’s behind the glass that day. All locations are open daily from 10am-4pm and offer both curbside pickup and delivery on most major platforms." - brant cox
"Sweet Lady Jane makes everything from tarts to cookies to cakes, but definitely call your nearest location (West Hollywood, Encino, and Santa Monica) to see what’s behind the glass that day. All locations are open daily from 10am-4pm and offer both curbside pickup and delivery on most major platforms. We haven’t been here yet, but want you to know this spot exists." - Team Infatuation
"After shuttering all six locations on December 31, 2023, the 35-year-old bakery was independently acquired on February 16, 2024, by Julie Ngu, who purchased the business’s intellectual property, recipes, branding, website, social media handles, and equipment and plans to reopen all outlets — including in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Calabasas, Encino, West Hollywood, and San Fernando — in the coming months. The bakery is best known for its signature Triple Berry cake, a three-layer yellow butter cake filled with lightly sweetened whipped cream and three kinds of fresh berries, and Ngu has said she wants as many people as possible to have access to it. Sweet Lady Jane had struggled financially since early 2020 (with at least ten different leadership changes after founder Jane Lockhart stepped away in 2020), and its owners cited insufficient sales to meet lease obligations and pay employees a living wage when announcing the closures; the former owners also face a class-action wage-theft lawsuit that the new owner will not assume responsibility for. In recent weeks Ngu has been hiring (posting a notice on the Encino window), has rehired a handful of former workers despite having no prior access to staff, is actively promoting the comeback on social media with #JaneIsBack, and intends to reopen stores gradually while renegotiating leases, setting up new utilities, and securing permits, following conversations with Lockhart that Ngu described as a “passing of the baton.”" - Mona Holmes
"It's been almost two months since longtime bakery Sweet Lady Jane closed all six locations unceremoniously; I saw a sign posted at the former Encino location on February 26 hinting at a comeback “soon” and soliciting resumes and cover letters for open positions including “team leader” and “team associate,” and the bakery posted a teaser on Instagram on February 25 using the hashtag #JaneIsBack (response from followers has been lukewarm). The legendary Los Angeles bakery shut down late last year after 35 years—founder Jane Lockhart opened the original shop on Melrose Avenue in 1988—and cited lease obligations and rising operating costs for the closure; it's long been known for its Triple Berry Cake." - Mona Holmes
"At Sweet Lady Jane (multiple locations) pumpkin spice season includes an autumnal lineup of pumpkin spice cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting, pumpkin-spiced whoopie pies with coffee mascarpone filling, and pumpkin spice cake in a jar." - Cathy Chaplin
