80-year-old Chinatown bakery helps Angelenos celebrate in hard times
Angelenos have celebrated with Phoenix Bakery's famous strawberry cream cakes for generations. While the Chinatown landmark has had to adjust during the pandemic, the shop is still serving up its favorite baked goods.
CHINATOWN (KABC) -- "Sweets for the sweet." That's the longstanding motto at Phoenix Bakery in Chinatown.
"We are famous for our strawberry cream cakes, our almond cookies and our sugar butterfly," said Phoenix Bakery CEO Kathy Chan Ceppi.
The community staple is more than 80 years old.
"It was started by my mother and my father in 1938," said Ceppi.
A love for sweet treats runs in the family and for their customers too.
"We have a very loyal group of customers that are almost into their third generation here," said Ceppi.
But when the coronavirus started to become a threat, the Ceppis noticed a change in their community.
"We noticed during the Chinatown parade, there were not that many people along the entire route. And then in March, of course, we started getting all the cancellations for wedding cakes and big parties, and that's impacted our business quite a bit," said Ceppi.
The Ceppis said they've taken several steps to adjust to health guidelines. But note that not even a pandemic can stop people from celebrating.
"My parents started this in the 1930s because they knew that even in hard times people celebrated important events like birthdays, anniversaries, you know, and it holds true today," said Ceppi.
