Rising to the
Occasion
Zelienople’s Scott Baker, a fifth-generation
baker, keeps an iconic Pittsburgh tradition alive.
BY KATHY RUDOLPH
W
hen Scott Baker of Zelienople was out of a job after his
family’s business, Jenny Lee Bakery, closed its doors in
2008, he didn’t have to look far for someone who had
gone through a similar situation.
“It was a rough time when Jenny Lee closed, but I looked back
at our family’s history and realized that my grandfather, Paul Baker,
had to start over because his grandfather, Michael Baker, had owned
a bakery that was started in 1875 and ended up closing in 1943,”
says Baker, a fifth-generation descendant of Michael Baker, who
immigrated to the United States from Germany in the mid 1800s.
“He kind of reinvented the family fortunes in the baking industry
and I thought, ‘We’ve done it before and we can do it again!’”
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In 2009, this conviction led Baker, who resides with his wife,
Joella, and son, Zachary, to found “5 Generation Bakers” located
in McKees Rocks. The bakery produces the famous Jenny Lee
cinnamon swirl breads that, like the Steelers, Kennywood and
pierogies, are synonymous with Pittsburgh.
Jenny Lee Bakery was founded in Downtown Pittsburgh in
1938 by cousins Paul Baker and Bernard McDonald. The cinnamon
swirl bread, Easter egg cakes and cookies were so popular that
the bakery expanded in the 1970s to include 14 locations in the
Pittsburgh area. Later, the business relocated to McKees Rocks but
because of setbacks, including a devastating fire in 2006 and the
recession in 2007, it closed in 2008.