Bob’s Banana Bread: Get bread-y for some late-night pastries

By Hongtao Hu     9/3/24 10:40pm

​​While most college students might throw away their overripe bananas, the co-founders of Bob’s Banana Bread turned them into a business. Lovett College juniors Jahnavi Mahajan and Felix Hasson turned a weekly baking session into a new late-night food option for Rice students during the summer of 2024.

“I had … bananas lying around that were fully ripe and completely black,” Mahajan said. “So we were like, ‘What can we do with this? We can make banana bread with it.’” 

This baking session turned into making banana bread weekly, and soon, a family friend recommended that they bring their bread to the Rice community. To ensure food safety, both Mahajan and Hasson have Texas Food Manager Certifications, wear gloves and use separate cooking equipment for loaves that contain nuts to prevent allergic reactions, they said.

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Baking banana bread every week came naturally to Hasson, but the difficulties lay in making unique flavors.

“I think baking is just really easy. Anyone can do it ... but the hard part is making something your own recipe,” Hasson said.  “We have all these cool flavors. I don’t think anyone really does something like a blueberry lemon crumble banana bread or a Cinnamon Toast Crunch walnut with a cinnamon swirl in it.”

Bob’s Banana Bread was inspired by the Sid Richardson College pop-up Sid Shoots the Cheese, a late-night grilled cheese pop-up. Hasson said he was frustrated by the inconsistency and cost of late-night foodstuffs and wanted a change.

“I think everyone knows at this point there [are] not really consistent food options past a certain [time] on Rice campus, unless you want to gamble that the Hoot actually has what you’re looking for,” Hasson said. “You’ll have to pay a giant delivery fee to Uber Eats [from] somewhere else, so this is a great, affordable option for really good late-night food; plus, it just tastes really good. ” 

The bakers will host their first pop-up Sept. 4 from 9 to 11 p.m. in Lovett’s upper commons. Slices will be sold for $2.50 each. With four different flavors of banana bread to choose from, Mahajan and Hasson said they hope to kick off students’ school year with freshly cooked pastries while also marking a significant moment in their friendship.

“The grand opening happens to be on Wizard Staff Wednesday — the first Wednesday of every semester where Lovett holds this party,” Hasson said. “It’s kind of cool because that’s the place where Jahnavi and I met, so it’s kind of a full circle type of thing.”

Instrumental to Bob’s is its namesake — Bob, a hammer who helps Mahajan and Hasson prepare ingredients.

“I had a free hammer that I named Bob … and we used Bob to crush the walnuts that would go in our banana bread,” Mahajan said. “I think it was Felix who was just like, ‘Wait, why don’t we just name the entire thing after Bob?’ Both of us love Bob, and Bob is amazing, so it’s Bob’s Banana Bread.” 

While Bob’s Banana Bread has no plans to expand to different pastries, Mahajan and Hasson hope to develop new flavors and potentially increase their production.

“We’re specializing in different wacky flavors of banana bread. We are still developing new flavors constantly,” Hasson said. “We currently only have plans to sell by the slice, but if it becomes really popular, we might start selling by the loaves and who knows where this could expand to?”

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