To Build a Bakery is a Craft to Crumb series featuring stories of growth for bakeries of all scales. From establishing a first brick-and-mortar location to multiple shops and beyond, the series connects with bakers from across the country about how they’re scaling up their businesses. If you would like your bakery’s story to be considered, please email Annie Hollon at annie@avantfoodmedia.com.
SIOUX FALLS, SD — Opening a brick-and-mortar operation is not always the main goal for bakers and pastry chefs. Sometimes, the decision to establish a patisserie comes decades later.
Such is the case for Chef Chris Hanmer, owner of CH Patisserie, a culinary gem nestled away in a 120-year-old building in downtown Sioux Falls, SD. The 2025 James Beard Awards semifinalist in the Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker category opened the patisserie in 2013 alongside Caryn, his wife and business partner. Since then, the shop has adapted and grown to meet the needs of the community, offering an array of petite gateaux, French macarons and viennoiserie.
Getting to this point was a journey years in the making.
Earning his pastry chops
Chris’ entry into the baking world came from an unexpected source: a neighbor working as a chef at the Candlewood Country Club in Whittier, CA. That connection opened a door to a career Chris hadn’t considered.
“I just loved being in the kitchen,” he said. “I went from [working there] a couple times a month to every weekend to getting a work permit and working while I was in high school.”
After reading The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry by the late pastry chef Bo Friberg, Chris was inspired to try his hand at more specialty pastries and desserts.
This laid the groundwork for his enrollment in the culinary arts program at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, CA. Backed by that education, he apprenticed with renowned chefs and worked as a pastry chef in various hospitality establishments.
Chris found plenty of opportunities to exercise his pastry skills. When Team USA took home the gold hardware at the World Pastry Team Championship in 2004, he became the youngest-ever American chef to win that recognition. He also competed on the Food Network Challenge and took home the grand prize in season two of Top Chef: Just Desserts.
It was around that time that Chris began considering a shift.
The big move
While working as executive pastry chef at the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, NV, Chris did some consulting work on the side. When the hotel shut down, Chris and Caryn began consulting full-time and established the School of Pastry Design.
After a few years, though, the couple was ready to start making something for the public again. They moved to Sioux Falls in December 2012 to be closer to family and purchased a 2,000-square-foot building that would become CH Patisserie.
Working with a total budget of $125,000 and an SBA loan, Chris and Caryn transformed the space into an operational patisserie. In true entrepreneurial fashion, they did the demolition work and painting themselves to save money.
Chris relied on his hospitality background to determine equipment needs.
“Understanding what products we were going to make led us to find the right equipment and not make the investment where it wasn’t necessary,” he said. “For example, we knew a larger mixer was going to be an investment, but we needed one because buying four countertop mixers, albeit less expensive, is not as efficient.”
Yet, having the necessary equipment wasn’t the Hanmers’ primary focus. Their most critical business investment was crafting the front-of-house space.
“We wanted to be really intentional on how the space felt and how we wanted people to enjoy it based on the product,” Chris said. “We sacrificed equipment purchases to make sure the space reflected the feeling and impression we wanted.”
CH Patisserie opened its doors in May 2013.
Pivoting overtime
From the start, Chris and Caryn had their work cut out for them in terms of educating its Midwestern customers on what distinguished the patisserie from a traditional bakery.
The shop offered customers a European-style experience with a menu focused primarily on petite gateaux, cookies and confectionary treats in classic flavors such as vanilla and pistachio and unconventional, seasonal profiles including Puppy Chow and birthday cake.
“We didn’t have viennoiserie or croissant when we first opened because my background was much more focused on petite gateaux and things like that,” he said.
French macarons, which are CH Patisserie’s most popular offering today, weren’t on the menu in the early days.
Over time, the Hanmers invested in a dough sheeter, mixer and proofer to get the shop’s laminated baked goods program off the ground … and they added the macarons.
“We always took baby steps,” Chris said. “Even now, we max out everything before we invest in a piece of equipment. That kind of slow and steady pace is really what helps us be so successful financially.”
After the business was off the ground, they fully renovated the bakery’s front area, adding dedicated cases for viennoiserie, petite gateaux and macarons and an espresso program.
“We got the whole front of house to the standard and vision we had initially wanted without being constrained by the financial aspect that we had before,” Chris said.
Driven by core values
Early on, Chris and Caryn established core values for CH Patisserie’s training program that serve as the roadmap for all aspects of the business:
— I arrive with honesty and kindness
— I work with desire and dedication
— I act with integrity and trust
— I lead with excellence and humility
“Those four core values keep us on the same page as our team and remind us how we need to be as leaders,” Chris said.
Finding team members that align with these mantras is non-negotiable.
“Our core values and training are not about making the best pastry,” he said. “We need people who have those core values with us. When that happens, then the best pastry will come.”
A dozen years of lessons
Owning CH Patisserie has been a constant exercise in flexibility as the business moved through its early days, the pandemic and a major renovation. Along the way, Chris learned that while there can be value in outside opinions, remaining steadfast in the authenticity of a business is vital for continued success.
“Listening to what you want to do and where you find your satisfaction is immensely important in the beginning because you can be so easily swayed to change by good-meaning people in your life,” he said.
With a James Beard nod under his belt, Chris’s focus for CH Patisserie is locked in on maintaining quality at every level and providing a warm and welcoming environment for customers.
“That is what we will continue to focus on moving forward in the business over the next decade,” he said.
