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Katie Hutton

Photo by Katie Hutton Hannah was motivated to buy the bakery at its location in Churchill largely because it came with the equipment she needed. "It was really nice because it had all the permits with it," Hannah said.

At the age of 15, SAHS graduate Hannah Fazendin began a folder that would start her towards her dream of opening her own bakery. Plastered on the front of the folder would be a logo with the dream bakery’s name, Hannah’s Homemade Heavens, and in its confines there would be dozens of recipes that Hannah had decided she would sell. Now 19, Hannah’s folder remains with her, but she keeps it in the bakery she now owns.

Hannah opened her bakery on Oct. 1. The bakery, which sells cupcakes, pastries and bread, is located on Churchill Street near Meister’s Bar and Grill. The bakery was bought in August after a year of plans for a bakery, and after a month of preparation was finally opened. Hannah originally was going to make her bakery in downtown Stillwater.

“My original plan was to do it at the front half of [my family’s] store, Johnny’s T.V,” Hannah said.

But as Hannah looked into the creation of her bakery she realized the difficulty such a huge plan would be. Hannah needed to construct a kitchen from scratch along with obtaining permits, and the entire creation process would be time consuming and pricey.

“I hadn’t even thought about doing a bakery anywhere else, it was always over [at Johnny’s],” Hannah said.

In August, Hannah looked at the location on Churchill street, which used to be a cupcake shop, and had it checked out by a health inspector. When the inspector gave it the okay she put an offer on the location. Hannah was working at The Daily Grind, one of two jobs she had at the time, when she got the text from her dad telling her the location had passed the inspection.

“I told my mom don’t text me because I’ll be at work and I don’t wanna know if I don’t get it,'” Hannah said. “He [Fezendin’s dad] texted me and he was like ‘oh you got it, you are now the proud owner of your bakery’ and then he texted back and said ‘sorry mom said you didn’t wanna know’ and I was like ‘alrighty dad’.”

Fezendine was excited when she heard the news, as she had been waiting for her bakery for years. She put an offer in for the location and by October 1st had opened her bakery.

“My entire life had been consumed by the bakery, in a good way. So it was like ‘oh I finally accomplished it,'” Hannah said.

Early planning

Though saving and construction plans had been occurring for over a year, Hannah had really been planning her bakery for years. Since the age of 15 she had a folder full of recipes, tips, and tricks. She even had the name Hannah’s Homemade Heavens picked out since the age of 15, and on the front of the folder she had a logo displaying it.

“I wanted it to be homemade, you know? So I kind of described the product,” Hannah said.

Her parents began her interest in baking when she was young by baking Christmas cookies. Yet ironically, at the age of five Hannah’s brother Tucker had been creating in the kitchen a few years longer and was originally the baker of the family. So baking is a Fazendin family affair, it seems.

“Hannah used to play in the flour all the time,” Hannah’s mother, Joan Fazendin, said. 

Later, Hannah continued with baking while her brother took on other tasks.  She found herself working in local restaurants and bakeries and learned additional skills needed for running her own bakery. At her job at the Daily Grind, Hannah learned a part of the trade that she wanted to incorporate into her location at Johnny’s-coffee.

“Pretty much everywhere I learned a lot,” Hannah said.

Hannah largely involved her family in her preparations, even in an indirect way. When planning her bakery, Hannah and family went on road trips around the state to get baking inspiration from other companies.

“Every time we go travelling, usually to see road monuments…then we look for bakeries on the way,” Joan said.

Though she had been planning the event for years, opening day was still a challenge for the Fazendin’s. Though Joan helps Hannah at the bakery, Hannah still found that there were some things she was unprepared for.

“[We found that] we’re missing a lot of things, all the way down to the credit card machine,” Joan said.

From a line of entrepreneurs

Hannah sells some of her items at Johnny’s T.V. in downtown Stillwater. The business is run by Dave Fazendin and Tom Syverson, but was originally opened by Hannah’s grandfather, Johnny Fazendin. The T.V. repair shop and video rental was started in the basement of Johnny’s home in 1948.

“He was repairing T.V.’s and stereo systems and stuff for people back when T.V.’s were not even in color,” Hannah said.

Johnny then bought the current location of Johnny’s T.V, which was originally a shoe store. Hannah’s father Dave brought the video rental aspect in when he was a teenager.

Hannah said, “He was young at the time…so he kinda changed it up a bit.”

The store originally had betas, the precursor to VHS, and was run by Hannah’s grandfather until her father and Syverson invested in the business. According to Hannah, the investment was a total of $1–more for the act than anything–and with the dollar Johnny and Syverson became partners. The store is where Hannah grew up.

“My mom started working for my dad and that’s how they met, she had a job down there,” Hannah said.

Her great grandfather, Florian Fazendin, was who started the family on this track of entrepreneurship when he opened Fazendin Auction House in the 20s. The house originally sat behind where Leo’s Grill and Malt Shop now stands, and featured water and fire damaged items for a low price.

“It was during the depression so…lots of people went there because you could get it cheap,” Joan said.

Pieces from Fazendin auction house can still be found floating around Stillwater. After Joan married into the family her grandma gave her an object she had bought from the auction house years ago.

“[I] got a nativity set that he had sold at his place for a quarter,” Joan said.

Plans for the future

Though Hannah has achieved her goal of opening her bakery, there is still more to come for the 19 year old. She could not open her bakery in her dream location at her family’s store, but she will eventually be opening a cafe instead.

“We decided just to do a coffee shop sort of location and [we’re going to] bring stuff down from the kitchen [to Johnny’s],” Hannah said.

Until then, Hannah’s bakery will sit on Churchill where passersby, like senior Brooke Espelien, can enjoy her assortment of bakery items.

“[People] should go because of the amazing story and the passion behind it [Hannah’s Homemade Heavens] and the yummy treats!” Espelien said.