Today we’d like to introduce you to Henry&Loretta Hahn.
Henry&Loretta, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Hello we are Henry and Loretta Hahn. We’ve been married for 16 years and have two beautiful kids. It has been quite the adventure to get here and we’d like to tell you some of the backstory on how East Fork Pasty Company came to be.
While on vacation visiting Henry’s hometown(Calumet) in 2019 we sampled every available pasty in the Copper Country. Going on our version of a pasty tour. After returning home to Washington State we decided to make some for ourselves. We had no idea what we were doing and that first batch was so bad it went right into the garbage. But our love of pasty wouldn’t let us give up on that dream of pasty perfection. Six months and many tweaks later we finally had something worthy of sharing with family and friends. Then the requests started coming in. Soon we were making pasties by the hundreds and Henry asked “Is this something we can actually do for real? What if won Pasty Fest?!” We both laughed, but it sparked something in us that was far from a joke, it became the goal.
So we threw all our eggs in one basket. Henry quit his job, we sold our house, and moved 2,000 miles back to the Copper Country to open a pasty shop. We were able to lease space from Ramona’s Bakery when we first started and the people showed up!! That first year we were open was a whirlwind. Lines of people waiting to try our pasty, some waiting for hours! We entered that first Pasty Fest with high expectations, but it wasn’t to be. We lost, barely, but we did. I remember the wind blowing out of my sail. I’m fiercely competitive, so I took it hard. My husband, ever the optimist, looked me in the eyes and said “we’ll get it next year.”
And wouldn’t you know it, we did!! 2024 we got the win and we both just bawled. So much life had happened that year. Lots of really tough things. Our marriage was hanging on by thread, God used the pasty kitchen to save it. Sometimes we worked through so much while making pasties that it felt more like marriage counseling. I thank God for that time and our open hearts. He can do miracles with an open heart. We’re living proof of that.
2025 Pasty Fest we got the win again!! 2 years in a row and we’re so thankful to all the wonderful people who have shown up for us. We couldn’t do it alone and we just appreciate our customers and community so much.
A lot has changed in our processes now. We built our commercial kitchen at our house in Gay, but we still sell out of Ramona’s Bakery walk up window on Saturdays and Mondays 11:30 until Sold Old. We’ve also setup preordering, trying to be online when neither of us are too tech savvy has been a challenge, but we’re figuring it out with the help of my big sister. Now some days we’re close to being sold out in preorders. There’s also a little East Fork Pasty Company trailer in the works so we can get our pasties out to more people.
We have lots of big dreams for the future, and step by step we’ll get there. One beautiful pasty at a time.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think I covered this in our story part, but yes there have been lots of challenges. When the pressure kicks in and the time crunch is there it’s so easy to become short with each other, but what snaps us back always is we’re on the same team.. if I’m working against Henry the ship goes down, when I work with Henry we can navigate the stormiest of seas together.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We most proud of our handcrafted pasties. It’s a way for us to express the creative side of us. Henry likes to come up with new flavor combinations and I love to make the prettiest pasties I possibly can.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Henry was and still is hilarious. He was always full of fun and life. Making people laugh with his stories and antics.
Henry is more of a risk taker.
I was more of a shy kid. I can be hilarious too, but it takes a little more time for me to open up to people. I’m more of a pump the breaks type.
We balance each other out really well.
Pricing:
- $10 per pasty
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.eastforkpastycompany.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eastforkpastyco
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/19GiYCWMbv/
