Our Story
Parisian artistry + Hmong heritage + Minnesotan heart
ROOTS
1980's
Marc Heu was born in France to parents who had fled Laos as refugees of the Vietnam War. At just three years old, his family moved to the jungles of French Guiana in search of a better life. Home became an abandoned cow barn, where days began in darkness to the sounds of the jungle. Marc found joy in swimming in the river, climbing trees, and baking cakes alongside his sisters.
DREAMS
1990's
Because his family lived three hours from the nearest city, holiday pastries were a luxury they couldn’t always afford. Marc, who loved sweets and eagerly helped in the kitchen, found joy in baking with his sisters. At thirteen, he told his parents he dreamed not of college, but of becoming a pastry chef.
THE TURNING POINT
2012
His parents were not supportive of his pastry dream and instead encouraged him to pursue medicine. Marc attended high school in Limoges, France, graduating with a Baccalauréat in Sciences, before enrolling at the University of Limoges as a medical student. During a summer trip to Minnesota to visit extended family, he met his future wife, Artist and Educator, Gaosong V. Heu.
He ultimately chose to make Minnesota his home. There, homesickness led him back to his first love—French desserts—baking from home to stay connected to his roots.
TRAINING
2017
In 2016, Marc returned to France to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a pastry chef, enrolling at the prestigious École Lenôtre in Paris. Training under world-renowned chefs in chocolate, ice cream, sugar, and pastry arts, he graduated in 2018 with a Grand Bachelor de Pâtisserie, completing internships at Pré Catelan, a three-Michelin-star restaurant, and Stohrer, the oldest pastry shop in France. He then returned to the United States to join his wife, a graduate student in New York City, before bringing his expertise back to Minnesota.
COMING HOME
2019
On Christmas Eve of 2018, Marc and Gaosong purchased one-way tickets from New York to Saint Paul, determined to launch their dream with just $200 and the support of the Minnesota community. Less than a year later, on August 1, 2019, Marc Heu Pâtisserie Paris opened its doors in Saint Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood. Today, Marc shares the expertise he gained in Paris and New York with Minnesota, fulfilling his childhood dream of bringing world-class French pastry to his new home.