Farmstead Bakery has quickly become the mecca of Southern Utah dining. The 2,200 sq ft restaurant is small but has had a huge impact on the hospitality scene since opening its doors in February 2021. But the idea started long before that. When three friends, all competitors, and owners of their own restaurants in the Las Vegas dining scene, decided it would be a good idea to team up and create what we now know as Farmstead Bakery.
Three co-founders, Chris Connors, Li Hsun Sun, and the late Chef Chris Herrin, formed a strong team. Chris and Li managed operations and customer service but lacked kitchen expertise, which even third-generation restaurateur Sun was missing.
Enter Chef Chris Herrin, a former executive pastry chef for Thomas Keller and
former pastry chef at French Laundry, and Bouchon, a talented person who baked for Presidents and cooked for the Augusta National Golf Course during the Masters. Chef Herrin was a world-class talent and the missing piece to the puzzle.
When COVID hit Vegas, Connors and Sun, already partners in two successful restaurants (The Local and Me Gusta Tacos), were forced to close for a month. We talked to Connors about what this time brought to his restaurants. “Everyone knows the story because it happened all across our country. So, as the entire world was put on pause, my family and I decided to get in the car and head out to St. George. Of course, I couldn’t sit still, so I looked at vacant commercial restaurant spaces, and the location that is now the original Farmstead popped up. I spoke to Chef Herrin about the space, and he said I’m in”. So, my wife and I decided to move our family to St. George in the summer of 2020. Li would stay in Vegas and run The Local and Me Gusta Tacos.” said Connors.
When Farmstead opened, it quickly became a hit in St. George, surprising many with its culinary quality. Soon, they welcomed visitors from Vegas, hikers from Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, and even European chefs. Positive reviews flooded in for the incredible food, fantastic service, and booming business. Chef Herrin, in the kitchen, with his Head Baker Benjamin Garcia, focused on developing young bakers, building a team, and creating an exceptional product. Connors said with a happy grin – “I made sure Chef Herrin wasn’t giving away too much product; he loved giving away bread and donuts, so much so, I had a line item in my profit and loss statement titled “Chris Herrin Giveaways” I would always act like it was a big deal but it wasn’t, Chris would make so many friends simply by giving them a baguette, he was special like that, he understood the guest experience.”
But then it all stopped.
The day before Thanksgiving in the bakery business is probably the craziest day of the year. Pies, pies, and more pies; boxes of pastry and desserts, it’s the Super Bowl for bakeries. The Farmstead team was ready. Hundreds of pies were handmade the day before from Pumpkin, to Apple, to Coconut Cream. But they were missing one thing: Chef Herrin, who helped make all those pies.
Chef always had a come-and-go attitude when it came to life. “He would work for 2 months straight, and then we wouldn’t see him for 2 weeks. That freedom that he loved was nonnegotiable for him,” – Said co-owner Sun. It was natural that the crew thought Chef was on another one of his famous road trips when they didn’t see him on the year’s busiest day. Then, relatives started calling the restaurant, asking where Chef was.
Their concerns turned into fear, and the fear turned into sorrow as later that day, co-owner Chris Connors told the team Chef Herrin suddenly passed away due to complications from diabetes, a disease he had since the age of 11. Word quickly spread throughout the community. “I dont like to talk about that day much; it was terrible. But Chef wouldn’t want us to give up; I can hear him say, ‘keep pushing, keep pushing”. We lost a dear friend that day, a phenomenal person and a very talented chef.”
Connors and Sun were heartbroken, but despite the grief, they had to get a game plan; with a 30-person team and countless customers relying on them, now was the time to come together. Along with head baker Benjamin Garcia and the very talented pastry Chef Marie Yonge, they had to prove to customers (and themselves) that they could provide the same product before Chef Herrin’s passing.
“We could have easily thrown in the towel, but not once did we think about that; we owe it to Chef Herrin to become great, and that’s the promise we made to each other before we opened Farmstead,” -Said Sun. Slowly, the Farmstead team worked through the levels of grief, and the product remained superbly consistent. Now, instead of a regional draw, Farmstead consistently has customers visiting worldwide.
But it doesn’t stop there. Farmstead is still growing! Although they didn’t do it in the traditional way. Building one restaurant at a time is slow and costly, doing a full buildout, going from location 2 to 3 to 4, and so on.
Li Hsun Sun said, “We felt building a central baking facility was the correct move going forward. We could control the consistency, keep our core kitchen team in one location, and save money on costly commercial baking equipment in the long run. Our retail locations would then be smaller and more efficient”. The pair invested in their bakery warehouse in Leeds, Utah, where they bake about 90% of their products and deliver them daily to each farmstead location. The strategy seems to be working, leading to the opening of Farmstead’s third location in Southern Utah (St. George, Springdale, Hurricane).
In the 5 years, Farmstead has been open, the restaurant has set the bar for customer service and product quality, and the reviews are proof. Guests love the vibe, energy, and decor; the customer/guest interaction is second to none. Farmstead is putting St. George on the map for culinary and service. Li Hsun Sun is an immigrant’s son and grew up helping his parents and grandparents run their Chinese restaurant in Marin County, just north of San Francisco. While Chris Connors grew up in Las Vegas, the son of a 3rd grade school teacher and college football handicapper. The two, sometimes, couldn’t be more different, but they make a great team. Chris mentioned how he’s glad they don’t always see eye to eye. “If we agree on everything, I don’t think we are looking at things from a different perspective. We make a great team, and he (Li) is a great business partner,” -said Connors.
The two have overcome adversity, focused on building a talented team, and have invested in the community around them. It’s safe to say the future looks bright with Farmstead.
