FAQs

What is Levain Bakery doing regarding coronavirus and COVID-19?

As ever, the safety and health of our team members and customers is of the utmost importance. We definitely take the current health environment very seriously even as we provide cookie comfort.

For the time being, to encourage social distancing, our bakeries will be take out and delivery only, and you can gift boxes via UPS. We kindly ask that you take cookies purchased on site to go, instead of staying in the bakery to eat them. 

We are following all known best practices from health authorities, and are monitoring all direction carefully, updating as necessary.

We have stepped up our already rigorous cleaning and sanitization measures, instituted even more rigorous hand-washing procedures, and have removed open condiments and utensils, like coffee stirrers, from the front of our stores. We no longer will accept personal refillable cups across the counters.

Perhaps most importantly, we have renewed our commitment to ensuring our team members don't work when they feel ill, and have reviewed and updated our paid sick time policy to ensure our passionate, dedicated and amazing team has the appropriate level of support in the event they need it. 

Please -- help us help you by washing your hands frequently, using sanitizer when washing isn't an immediate option, and staying home if you're under the weather as well. We will happily accommodate any cravings by shipping cookies via this website or via our friends at Caviar for delivery within Manhattan. they have published directions for "Contactless Delivery" too.

We've always believed cookies can be a great comfort in times of uncertainty. We are open, baking and ready with a slightly more distant smile and your favorite treats.

Stay safe.

I want to visit a bakery! Where are you located?

We’d love to have you! Please visit our locations page for a complete listing of our retail bakeries. 

Do you ever run out of cookies?

Never! Literally, never. We bake cookies all day as needed until closing time! Three of our bakeries stay open later in the evening to help with those late night cravings: NoHo is open until 10pm daily, 351 Amsterdam Avenue is open until 8:30pm and the Upper East Side is open until 9pm.

Can I order in advance?

Advanced planning is the best kind of planning! If you’d like to place a pick-up order from one of our bakeries, please call the bakery directly (bakery locations). We can accept pick up orders from 30 minutes to 7 days in advance. Or you can order online for pick up from Caviar up to 7 days in advance and skip the line when you pick up.

Our Upper East Side and 351 Amsterdam Avenue bakeries both have specific spots designated at their counters to pick up pre-paid orders.

Do you offer delivery in Manhattan?

Yes! We’ve partnered with Caviar to offer deliveries from our bakeries south of 125th Street in Manhattan. If you’re planning in advance, we welcome Caviar orders 7 days in advance. Pro tip: Caviar typically waves the delivery fee for first time orders!

Courier deliveries to other NY boroughs outside of Manhattan may be available by special arrangement. Please contact us at myorder@levainbakery.com or 1-877-4LEVAIN (877-453-8246) to discuss.

Do you accept Apple Pay/Google Pay/Android Pay?

All of these are available payment options at our retail bakeries. At this time, however, none of these are available through our online shop.

Do you make cakes or cupcakes?

While we don’t bake traditional layered cakes, our cookies are often used to create cookie towers for celebrations like weddings, birthdays, baby showers and more. If you’re interested in exploring that option, fill out an inquiry form here and let us know what you’re thinking using the additional comments field.

Pro tip: Cookie towers require assembly and additional components on your end, such as the tower itself. We’re cookie bakers, not architects, so we can only provide the cookies!

Levain is amazing! When will you open outside NYC?

Thanks for the compliment! We agree - it would be great to have a Levain Bakery in everyone’s neighborhood. We are considering expanding outside of New York City. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram and sign up for our email list to be the first to know about our plans. In the meantime, we’re happy to ship cookies straight to your door! Shop cookies now.

Can I place a wholesale order?

At this time we don’t offer any of our products to other retailers.

Can I open a franchise?

We’re thrilled you want to become part of the Levain family. At this time we’re not franchising (nationally or internationally).

Where does Caviar Deliver?

Breads, pastries, cookies can be ordered through Caviar and delivered daily in Manhattan (south of 125th Street); gift boxes are available for delivery Monday - Friday. If you are ordering a gift box through Caviar, same day delivery is only guaranteed for orders placed before noon.

Please note: Be sure to include a valid contact phone number for the person receiving the delivery so the courier can contact them if there are any issues. Caviar adds additional charges for failed deliveries, courier re-attempts and courier telephone calls required to complete delivery. Customers are responsible for giving accurate and adequate delivery instructions and contact information. If the courier cannot make contact with the recipient, the order may be forfeited without refund.

What’s the difference between ordering from a Bakery with Caviar and from your online shop?

If you want to order breads and pastries or individual cookies from one of our bakeries for delivery within Manhattan, you can place an order with Caviar.

If you would like to send a cookie gift box anywhere in the US, check out our online shop. Gift box packaging and gift notes are available only through our online shop; cookies ordered from a retail location will be packed in one of our standard bakery boxes.

Please note that at this time we’re not able to ship our breads and pastries through UPS.

Cookie Care

Levain Bakery’s cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to one week. If you’d like to save them for later, we recommend individually wrapping them and storing them in the freezer until a craving hits. Pro tip: cut a whole cookie into quarters before you freeze it - it’s the perfect two-bite snack!

When you’re ready to eat, warm your cookies in a 350°F oven for 5-10 minutes or until heated through.

If you have fresh cookies and want to achieve peak ooey-gooey-Instagrammable meltiness, warm your cookies in a 350°F for a few minutes or until heated through.

Fair warning: never store your cookies in the refrigerator or use a microwave to reheat them! Both will lead to hard, dried out cookies, which is no fun for anyone.

I have a Food Allergy, what can I eat?

We bake all of our cookies and baked goods on shared equipment in our bakery kitchens, all of which process wheat, dairy, eggs, soy, peanuts and tree nuts. You can find the allergens for all of our cookies on the Cookie’s product page. If you or your recipient has a severe allergy, please know that while we do our best to prevent cross-contamination, we are not an allergy-free bakery.

If you have a gluten sensitivity, please visit our Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Harlem and Wainscott locations for our Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies made with gluten-free ingredients. However, we want to reiterate that since we are not an allergy-free bakery, these are not certified gluten-free.

Why don't you make a nut-free Chocolate Chip Cookie?

We've made our chocolate chip cookie with walnuts since we opened our doors over two decades ago! We love the savory notes and crunch the walnuts add to the cookie. While we never never say never to offering a nut-free chocolate chip cookie in the future, right now we're sticking with our original recipe.

Pro Tip: our Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookie is nut-free (though baked in a bakery that does handle nuts) and just as delicious!

Are Levain Bakery Cookies Kosher?

Our bakeries are not certified Kosher, but we do bake in the Kosher style.

Are any of your products suitable for vegans?

While our cookies aren’t a good choice, our savory breads are a great option for vegans as they do not contain dairy or eggs. Another great vegan option is our Valrhona chocolate roll!

6 ounces?! That’s one enormous cookie!

We make our cookies in small batches by hand every day, so we are unable to change the size or the flavors with special requests. Our cookies are great for sharing or can be frozen for future snacking!

Do you have nutrition information available?

We don’t have nutrition information available. We love how big our cookies are because they’re the perfect size to share with a friend or cut in half and save for later. 

I love Levain Cookies! Do you ship them?

Yes we do! We ship our cookie gift boxes anywhere in the United States - Check out our flavors and shop now! 

I’m sending a gift - do you include prices in the box?

Not to worry, we never include pricing or similar details in our orders (shipped or delivered).

I’m sending a gift but don’t want my name on the paperwork - can you help?

The best way to make sure your gift is “from” the right person is to enter that information as the billing name checkout. If you’re sending from your company, for example, you could enter “Jane’s Flower Shop” rather than Jane Doe in the name field. 

Can I customize the cookies in my gift box?

The best way to customize your cookie selection is to order the individual flavors you’d like as a pack of four or eight. For example, you can add a Box of Four Chocolate Chip Walnut and a Box of Four Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip and ask us to package them as a Box of Eight. Our largest give box can accommodate 12 cookies - three sleeves of four - just reply to your order confirmation with instructions for us to pack the flavors in one box, and we’ll take care of the rest!

We aren’t currently set up to specify what cookie flavors are included in the individual packs, but  our tech team is hard at work to add this capability.

Can I order in advance?

Advanced planning is the best kind of planning! At checkout, you can enter the date that you would like your order to arrive, up to 25 days in advance. Please note that once a package is in UPS’ hands, we are unable to ensure it will not be waylaid by unforeseen events, such as weather. If your cookies absolutely must arrive by a specific date, we recommend scheduling them to arrive a day or two early; rest assured, they keep very well at room temperature for a few days or in a freezer for many weeks. 

Here’s a quick overview of how our order processing & shipping work for Levain Bakery Gift Boxes:

We bake cookies to order and generally can ship orders placed before noon Eastern on the same day, Monday - Thursday, with a few limited packages going out on Friday, for delivery Tuesday through Friday; Saturday may be available by special arrangement. We ship with UPS and offer local delivery with Caviar within most of Manhattan (south of 125th Street).  Courier deliveries to other NY boroughs outside of Manhattan may be available by special arrangement. Please contact us at myorder@levainbakery.com or 1-877-4Levain (877-453-8246) to discuss. 

To ensure your cookies’ quality, we will not ship orders if they will be in transit over a weekend. That means that, for some destinations,  if you order on Thursday and select ground or two-day shipping, we’ll hold your order until Monday. You’ll be able to select the delivery date and shipping service that works best for you during checkout. 

UPS does not deliver to PO boxes, so you’ll need to use the street address of a post office if that’s the only way your recipient can get their mail. 

Please note that we ship all of our orders with a signature required at shipping, so we recommend shipping to an address where someone will be available to sign for the delivery. It is at the sole discretion of UPS whether or not your package will be left without a signature. If signature is waived, Levain Bakery cannot be held responsible if the package is lost, stolen or damaged.

Where do you ship?

We ship our Cookie Gift Boxes within the United States (including Hawaii and Alaska). To ensure your cookies arrive in the best condition, we require that orders shipping beyond the northeastern United States use express shipping (two day or overnight), which you can select at checkout.  

Ground shipping is available for the following states: Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia (partial), Indiana, Illinois (partial), Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan (partial), New Hampshire, Kentucky, Maine, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Washington D.C., West Virginia, Vermont and Virginia. 

All shipping options for your delivery address are displayed at checkout, along with exact prices.  Saturday delivery is available by special arrangement; typically the shipping fees for this service start at $100, depending on the quantity of cookies and delivery address. If you’d like to arrange for your cookies to deliver on a Saturday, please contact us at myorder@levainbakery.com or 877-4LEVAIN.

Due to the highly perishable nature of our cookies, at this time we are unfortunately unable to support shipping to international locations or APO/FPO addresses.

What’s the best way to ensure my order arrives on a specific date?

Cookies are the best part of any party, celebratory moment or a regular day, we agree! At checkout you can select the date by which you would like your cookies to arrive, and we’ll ship them out accordingly.

If you’re ordering for a specific event, we strongly recommend selecting delivery a business day or two in advance, just in case there are any unforeseen issues. Our cookies freeze beautifully and can be held in the freezer happily - just thaw at room temperature for a few hours before your event or pop in an oven at 350 to return to bakery-fresh goodness.

Oops! I made a mistake placing my order. Can you help?

We’re on the case! If your order hasn’t shipped yet, we can make adjustments to the contents and shipping details. Simply reply to your order confirmation and let us know what’s going on. If you need to reach us proactively, contact us at myorder@levainbakery.com or 877-4LEVAIN.

How do I place orders shipping to multiple addresses?

At this time, our site is only able to process orders with one shipping address at a time. If you’ve got a big list (10 or more), we’re happy to help streamline the process. Simply email myorder@levainbakery.com.

Where is my order?

You’ll get an email confirmation immediately after you place your order and receive another one the day your order leaves our bakery. The shipping confirmation email will include the order’s tracking number, which you can click to get updates on transit.  

If you do not receive a confirmation email, please check your junk mail folder and add myorder@levainbakery.com to your safe senders list.

If you’re looking for a Caviar order, you can check its status via their order confirmation email. If you run into any issues, please contact their support team directly:

1-866-612-7021 option 3.

Help! There was a problem with my order.

We’re on the case! Reply to your order confirmation or email myorder@levainbakery.com and let us know what’s going on. We will do our best to make it right.

Do you accept returns?

Given the perishable nature of our cookies, we aren’t able to accept returns. If you encountered an issue with your order, please email myorder@levainbakery.com and let us know what’s going on. We will do our best to make it right.

Do you offer corporate gifts?

Absolutely! We love sending cookie joy and are happy to help make your list and check it twice. For more information and to get started, fill out an inquiry form here. 

Do you offer wedding favors?

Absolutely! Levain Bakery Cookies are an excellent -  and delicious - way to keep the party going long after the last song ends. For more information and to get started, fill out an inquiry form here.

Can I customize the packaging for large orders or party favors?

Great idea! We’re happy to work with you to customize a sticker, hang tag and/or ribbon color for your order.  Minimum quantities will apply for any customization, and the price may be adjusted accordingly. For more information and to get started, fill out an inquiry form here and let us know what you have in mind using the additional comments field.

How far in advance do I need to place my order?

Since our team bakes and ships to order each day, we need some advanced notice to plan for large orders. We typically require one week’s notice for large orders and an additional week if your order includes customization. That said, we know that sometimes time isn’t on your side and are always happy to try and accommodate a shorter window. Send us an email, and we’ll see what we can do! 

How do I redeem my gift card?

We sell physical cards for use in our retail bakeries. To redeem a gift card in store, simply present it at the register.

We previously sold separate electronic gift cards to use on our website but have since stopped doing so. To redeem a previously purchased e-gift card call us at 877-4Levain and we will be happy to assist. 

I have an e-gift card from your old website - help!

We’re so excited about our new site and wish we’d been able to bring our old gift cards along for the upgrade. If you have a digital gift card for our old site, we’ll happily issue a new one for the same amount for use in our stores or credit you for that amount on an order at levainbakery.com. Simply email myorder@levainbakery.com and include the gift card number.

I have an e-gift card and want to use it in a store (or vice versa) - can you help?

We can absolutely convert an electronic gift card to a store gift card. Email myorder@levainbakery.com and include the gift card number, and we’ll arrange for a store gift card you can pick up at your location of choice.

I love the Levain Bakery tee shirts your bakery teams wear - can I buy one?

Right now, our t-shirts are available only to our bakery teams. Please check out our Merch page for other cool branded swag like enamel pins and tote bags.  Of course, if you absolutely must have a t-shirt (we get it), we’re always looking for delightful, talented people to join our team!

The photos on your site are beautiful! Who took them?

We agree - they’re mouthwatering! We had so much fun working with Kate Previte and Melissa Kirschenheiter to capture the amazing people behind our cookies and other treats.

Are you hiring?

We’re always looking for fun, friendly people to join the Cookie Lovers' Parade. You can find a list of all of our open positions and submit an application on our Jobs Page. If you just want to introduce yourself, we’d love to meet you! Please email team@levainbakery.com with the store location you’d like to join, a recent copy of your resume and tell us a bit about yourself!

I have another question.

Have a cookie conundrum or just want to share the cookie love?  Drop us a line using this form, and a Levain team member will get back to you within 24 hours.

If you have a question about an existing order, please email myorder@levainbakery.com. 

If you have a media or press inquiry, please email media@levainbakery.com.
Need to speak with someone at a specific bakery? View our bakery locations for phone numbers.