Female entrepreneurs sell over half a million cookies at the UK's first and only milk and cookie bar
28 November 2018
Blondies Kitchen was founded in 2016 by friends Kristelle Levy (27) and Chelsie Collins (29), and is the UK’s first and only Milk & Cookie Bar with a delicious range of American-style cookies and cookie-themed treats. They have a hugely successful and permanent concession within Selfridges Oxford Street, London, and have sold over 500,000 cookies in two years.
Blondies Kitchen Founders Kristelle and Chelsie share the same love for the classic American-style cookie; a crisp edge with a chewy, soft centre. With this in mind, Blondies Kitchen have succeeded in bringing the simple yet truly delicious cookie to the UK with their own unique twist.
Kristelle and Chelsie are both professionally trained chefs; Kristelle trained at Le Cordon Bleu and worked as the Head Chef of a Primrose Hill café and Chelsie trained at Leith’s School of Food and Wine and worked as a cookery writer for BBC Good Food. The girls originally formed a friendship over social media, which then developed into a working relationship catering for private events. Their cookies were such a huge hit at these events that they become known as the Cookie Girls, so they decided they wanted to branch out on their own doing one thing, and doing it really well.
Their trial Milk & Cookie Bar launched in October 2016 at Old Street Station - it was a huge success. Blondies Kitchen sold over 800 cookies a day over the two-week period, which meant the girls worked 12 hour shifts during the day to go home and bake all night! Kristelle’s and Chelsie’s hard work paid off, as the success was picked up by the national media and their social media following grew rapidly. This new-found fame led to Selfridges launching a four-week pop up in May 2017, which was extended to five when Selfridges saw it was their most successful pop-up to date. Blondies Kitchen went on to open their permanent concession at the iconic London department store in September 2017. Since then they have produced over 500,000 cookies.
