How customer generosity keeps this Bellevue bakery running and frontline workers satisfied

They may be based in Bellevue, but this bakery is a little piece of Paris. Chef/owner Khalid Kaskou has been making classic French confections at Belle Pastry since 2011. It's a craft he learned from his father growing up in Paris - where bakeries are as common as coffee shops in Seattle. "Yeah like a bakery on every corner. It's like Starbucks but with bakeries,” Said Kaskou. "I was born in a bakery basically right. So that's why I chose to follow that path." That path has led to a loyal following and plenty of fan favorites. "The raspberry napoleon," said Kaskou. "Eclairs. The chocolate Eclairs. Petit Fours, so small bites." To keep up with demand the business produces pastries 7 days a week. An impressive number - especially when you consider they never closed the bakery even for one day during the pandemic or civil unrest outside their doors. "As I told my wife we cannot close, we have to keep going," said Kaskou. "We managed to survive. Keep most of our employees, I mean all of them, actually. And we are hiring again now." One reason they're surviving is because of a program they created where their customers could pay for pastries that the bakery would hand-deliver to hospitals, nonprofits, and first responders. "I'm sure it's over 3,000 pieces of pastries to all the organizations here in the Seattle area." Said Jenhui 'Andrea" Yao, Kaskou wife and co-owner. And all those delivers are met with wide smiles and grateful hearts. "Wow it's very generous of you, and we're like, it's more our customers' generosity than ours. We're just the middle guys here," Kaskou said, So while Belle Pasty may have its roots in Paris, they and their customers' generosity have no boundaries. "We think it's a great way for people to not only help our business but the front-line workers and just give some positivity back to the community as well.” Said Yao. Sponsored by Kaiser Permanente as part of Neighbors Helping Neighbors. #pastries #frontlineworkers #k5evening Evening on KING 5 celebrates the Northwest. Watch it LIVE weekdays at 7:30 on KING 5 or streaming on https://www.king5.com/. Find more stories like this on our website: https://www.king5.com/evening 🢒 Follow us! 🢐 FACEBOOK 🢒   / king5evening   TWITTER 🢒   / king5evening   INSTAGRAM 🢒   / king5evening   Thanks for watching!