BIZNOTE FOLLOWUP: Ex-Bel Gatto equipment to be auctioned off

| Fauntleroy | West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

The future of the Fauntleroy space that was briefly Bel Gatto and long The Original Bakery remains a question mark. Andrea sent us the link to an online auction of the space’s bakery and café equipment, to be held March 11-18 by veteran auctioneers James G. Murphy Co. After closing Bel Gatto in January, less than a year after opening the bakery/café next to his company’s restaurant Endolyne Joe’s, Peter Levy of Chow Foods told WSB, “There is no decision yet as to what we will be doing with the space that housed the bakery.” That sounded as if he and his company would decide its future, but when we contacted him after learning about the auction, he replied, “I am not sure of what the future use of the space will be. The Landlord will be making that determination.” We’re working to reach the building’s owners to find out if they plan to offer the space for lease. The online auction, meantime, is offering almost 60 items/groups of items, from “assorted plates” to a donut fryer to pizza ovens to bakery display cases/shelving.

Nitro March 1, 2025 (7:38 pm)

Makes me so mad that they took the lease for the space. I heard that a few of the Original Bakery employees (who wanted to keep the bakery open when Bernie retired) were told that Chow Foods had already taken the lease so the bakery couldn’t continue there. Wish we could crowdfund so that they could get the equipment and space back!! Long live the Original Bakery!!

bill March 1, 2025 (7:54 pm)

“After closing Bel Gatto … less than a month after opening….” Wait, that can’t be right. Didn’t Bel Gatto run for 10-11 months? And why is Levy so dense? The Original Bakery was successful for years and years. Is making donuts too lowbrow for Chow Foods?

WSB March 1, 2025 (8:14 pm)

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Sorry, that’s supposed to be year, not month. Fixing.
N March 1, 2025 (8:40 pm)

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We don’t know what the books looked like for the Original Bakery. Maybe they did fine because they had good lease terms. Or treated it as a labor of love and relied on their own labor to make it work and didn’t need to invest in any equipment etc.

Nwe March 1, 2025 (8:24 pm)

I miss the original bakery! I tried the new place 3-4 times hoping it would get better but finally gave up.

Morgan March 1, 2025 (8:33 pm)

Doughnuts. Doughnuts!ditto above commenters.bring back the simple: coffee and donuts. Wasn’t broke why’d they try to fix it?

Lisa March 1, 2025 (8:44 pm)

If Chow is gonna keep it, bring in TNT Taqueria 2!!

Simon March 2, 2025 (7:24 am)

Will they auction off the cat photos from the Cat Wall too? I tried to get the photo of our cat back upon hearing that they closed but no one responded to my emails :(

aa March 2, 2025 (7:59 am)

The bakery closed because the owner retired. Employees being interested and being able are two very different things. Also, I’m not a purest by any means, and donuts are disgusting. After the original sugar rush you can’t tell me you feel better after eating them.

Idesoftilda March 11, 2025 (10:14 am)

What’s awful too, is they did not give us employees notice that they were closing until the actual day. I had to scramble to find work after settling into my position. The carpet was pulled from us for sure. Of course only after this happened did I look into the actual history of chow foods and associates and how they treat their employees….deep sigh.I have hesitated to speak on it, but at this point I don’t have to fear retaliation anymore.