Inside Honey Bakery is a small square table and a few black metal chairs. On the blue walls are the menus showing the variety of food and drink options available.
As customers enter, they’ll see a glass case filled with buns for display only. And another full of fresh pastries like napoleon and moon cakes. Right on top of the case is an orange bell with a sign saying “please ring bell for service, thank you.”
Cody Courtois sat in one of the chairs by the window. He was waiting for his order of sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf. It’s filled with ingredients like salty egg yolk, chinese sausage and shrimp.
“You see the depictions of it and in animation, and it just looks so fluffy and good. So that was the appeal. I never had it because I was born and raised in Reno and never exposed to it,” Courtois said.
He said he has never been to Honey Bakery before but it reminded him of Chinese takeout places that are kind of discreet.
Dennis Lei, owner and baker of Honey Bakery, said opening the place was not a passion project. Instead, it was more of a way to make ends meet.
“It's not a fun job to bake because in summertime it's pretty warm, and it's pretty hot when I bake buns but there's a job. This is the only way to pay for what I have to pay,” Lei said.
Lei was born in China and lived there until he was 16 years old when he immigrated to the United States.
“Because my grandfather was over here. My grandfather, my uncles, they [were] over here. That's why they petition my family. And that's, I think that's the reason. I was really young, because my parents said, ‘Hey, we go over there.’ I just follow them. I don't know what reason, right?” he said.
Lei first lived in San Francisco for a few months. He then moved alone to Reno to study English at Truckee Meadows Community College.
He wanted to live in a place that was not too crowded, so he thought Reno was perfect. When he first arrived here, he worked as a dealer at a casino.
“I used to work at a casino, and I try to do something else besides the casinos. It is too loud, too smoky so I decided to do something else,” Lei said.
While thinking of ways to make a living, he realized there wasn’t really a place in Reno that sells Chinese baked goods. So he said, “That's why I went back to China and I stayed almost a year to learn everything about this.”
He came back to Reno and opened Honey Bakery. For almost two decades, he has been working long hours every day to keep his business open.
He wakes up before the sun rises and starts baking at six in the morning. Once the open sign flips on, he multitasks and serves customers as well. Sometimes, his wife and mom help him out.
“Not a lot of people know how to make dim sum. I mean it’s really hard. Some people walk in and look for a job. I said I just need to get someone who can help me right away. I don’t want to get someone and I still have to spend time teaching them,” he said.
Lei also takes pride in the food he sells. Many of his customers enjoy the variety of buns he offers including flavors like ham and corn, bbq pork, teriyaki chicken, coconut pineapple and taro.
His personal favorite are the cakes. He likes that they are very spongy, not too sweet and have fresh fruit.
He said he’ll never forget when one of his customers said ‘I just landed in Reno airport. The first thing they asked me was, ‘Where do you want to go?’ His customer responded, ‘Honey Bakery.’
Most of his customers are Americans and usually have never tried Chinese baked goods. Lei said customers visit his bakery because it's unique.
Even though working at a bakery is tiring, he plans to keep doing it for as long as his body allows him.
“I don’t know how to do something else. This is the only thing I know. I don't want to go back to the casino,” he said.
He hopes to retire one day. But for now, you can find Lei at Honey Bakery making dim sums.
