|
 Lee Zalben is the founder and president of New York City's world famous Peanut Butter & Co., and the man behind "gourmet peanut butter." Having personally come up with an entire menu of peanut butter sandwiches and desserts, and building an impressive collection of peanut butter memorabilia, he is, without a doubt, peanut butter's number one fan.
The 30-year-old Philadelphia native grew up eating a lot of peanut butter. In his family's kitchen, Lee, his brother and his mother each had their own jar of peanut butter with their names on it. Lee's love for peanut butter continued while an undergraduate student at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. It was while in college where the idea for Peanut Butter & Co. was born. Zalben and his friends had late night study breaks and held contests to see who could come up with the craziest but best tasting peanut butter sandwich. Lee always won, and thought it would be a neat idea to open a store dedicated to all the great sandwiches you can make with peanut butter.
After college, Lee worked in advertising and publishing, but never forgot about his idea for a peanut butter sandwich shop. While running errands one afternoon, Lee came across an empty storefront in Greenwich Village that he thought would make the perfect location for his peanut butter sandwich shop. By 5:00 pm the following day, Zalben was negotiating a lease for the space and six months later, the Peanut Butter & Co. Sandwich Shop opened its doors to the public on December 21, 1998.
Since then, Peanut Butter & Co. has expanded to Brooklyn, NY, where the Company now manufactures its signature line of handmade gourmet peanut butter for customers across the country. Lee manages the day-to-day operations of the company, and is currently at work on a peanut butter pop-culture cookbook.
|
