LYNNWOOD — When Tom West and his wife, Vi, visited the Live Aloha Hawaiian Cultural Festival in Seattle three years ago, they realized something was missing.
No one was serving malasadas.
The fluffy and sugary Portuguese doughnuts are very popular in Hawaii. But when the Lynnwood couple emailed festival organizers suggesting they serve the island treat, it was interpreted more like a proposal.
“The email reply we got back from them said, ‘Well that’s a good idea. We’d love to have you next year,’” said Tom West, 56, who had never made a malasada before but had eaten many on multiple trips to the islands with his Kauai-born wife.
“We kind of laughed it off at first, and then we thought, ‘Maybe we could do that. How hard could it be?’” West said.
That was when the idea for the Malasada Shack was created. While working 50 hours a week or more as a letter carrier with the Perrinville Post Office in Edmonds, it took three years and several failed experiments with rising dough for West to put the idea into action.
Finally, on Oct. 8, West sold his first malasadas during the third annual Hawaiian Cultural Festival at Chief Leschi School in Puyallup.
In fact, he sold more than a thousand of them.
“Once people found out we were there, we stayed busy,” said West, who sold the racquetball-sized delicacies for $5 for a half-dozen.
While he has no other events scheduled, West prefers to stay away from larger and higher-cost festivals like Live Aloha until he has the experience to earn a reliable profit. Recently, he has been giving malasadas out for free to neighbors, co-workers, friends and family.
“It’s a real treat. Doughnuts don’t touch it,” fellow letter carrier Richard Majer said. “I like the texture — you know, the crust and softness inside.”
This May, West becomes eligible for retirement after 30 years with the postal service, 15 years of it in Edmonds. With the possibility of more time, West would like to buy a concession trailer to make malasadas at fairs and festivals, which he thinks are the best venues for the Malasada Shack.
“Kind of like you don’t order an elephant ear at a restaurant,” West said. “It’s a special treat. It definitely isn’t going to be on the pyramid list of daily diet foods.”
Malasada info
For more information and to check in on upcoming events as they are posted, go to www.malasadashack.com.
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