GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — LeBon Macaron in East Hills may be a French bakery, however the owners have family ties to Ukraine.
Their popular Cake Batter flavor is dressed up in the Ukrainian flag. It's a blue and yellow makeover representative of Kelly Toland and her family's proud Ukrainian heritage.
Her grandmother's mother and aunt immigrated to the United States when they were teenagers.
"My Grandma grew up speaking Ukrainian in her home and obviously had a lot of Ukrainian influence in her life," Toland said. "She passed that on to my Dad and that got passed down to us."
The war in Ukraine hits close to home so the business owners decided to sell the macarons with 100% of the proceeds going towards relief efforts.
Toland is blown away by the response. She said people are buying them by the dozen.
Though small, customers said the macarons mean something very important.
"A small piece of hope for the owner and for what the proceeds go towards," said customer, Stuart Dobson. "I think it's important to get their message out there any small way they can, and any effort is a good effort."
Toland's family owns another bakery of the same name in Ann Arbor.
After just one day of sales, around 1,800 Ukrainian flag macarons have been bought and they've raised around $4,000.
"I hope it symbolizes unity and solidarity. We're all in this together," Toland said.
Toland expects to raise around $10,000 and they'll continue to make the macarons if the need continues.
They'll determine which organization to donate to in the coming days.
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