Dos Chris’ owners Christopher Joseph and Christopher Jeremy Barbara.
Photo by Timothy Eyrich
As told to Sara Crocker, Phoenix New Times’ dining reporter.
Sitting together in the serene garden outside of Mayo Clinic in north Scottsdale, we were startled by the medical results in front of us. We’d gone there because one of Christopher Joseph’s family members needed a kidney, and we were hopeful he’d be a match.
Instead, we had to reckon with some alarming test results. Numbers weren’t what they should be and at the same time, both of us were battling constant stress that took a toll on our mental health.
From the outside, it looked like we and our business were flourishing. We got married in October 2020 and three months later launched Dos Chris’, which would become a brick-and-mortar bakery and charcuterie business in Phoenix in 2022.
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From the start, we wanted to have a place that added sparkle and kindness to people’s days with fun treats and warm service. As a gay couple, you don’t always know if you’ll be welcomed into a space. We built Dos Chris’ to be a welcoming and safe space where people can be themselves. We applied that same ethic when building our crew.
Dos Chris’ became known for its over-the-top, sparkly cupcakes and other bakes.
We became known for our charcuterie tables, elaborate displays of cheese, fruit and crackers that twisted and curved into geometric patterns, flowers, hearts and other whimsical shapes. We wanted every cupcake to sparkle with a bit of glitter and every intricately iced cake to make someone’s day. The community embraced us, and we earned local awards for our fun and over-the-top bakes.
We were humbled and gratified, but we were also starting to run on autopilot, only focusing on the bakery. Our thoughts focused entirely on making sure our crew was thriving and our customers were delighted. Without realizing it, we pushed other priorities aside and worked seven days a week.
This wasn’t what we’d planned. Before we ever baked our first cookie, we promised each other that our mental and physical health would always come before our work. Now, sitting together on this medical campus, we questioned whether we’d have to uphold that promise.
Dos Chris’ offered whimsical charcuterie displays.
Provided by Dos Chris’ Bakery & Charcuterie Co.
How could we make this decision when we were flying high? A cautionary tale lived in our own family.
Christopher Joseph grew up in his parents’ restaurants, which they expanded to three locations over the years. That’s no small feat, but they did it at the expense of their own health.
Christopher Joseph’s dad died of a heart attack while he was working.
That reality didn’t give us pause when we started Dos Chris’. It wouldn’t be a full-service restaurant. We told ourselves a bakery would be hard work, but totally different.
This summer we were forced to face the fact that it wasn’t different.
Thankfully, we’re still at a point where we can make changes and shift our priorities. Our medical numbers and strained mental health forced us to open our eyes to how we’d neglected ourselves and our own partnership.
If those continued to get worse and we were losing our own sparkle, we wondered, would everything else eventually start unraveling?
Deciding to close Dos Chris’ was truly devastating. We went through a wave of emotions and second-guessed what we should do. Our guts told us it was time to make a change.
Giving up something you love is never easy, but we realized we had to look at the bigger picture and how we could continue to support the beautiful community we’d built through Dos Chris’.
When we told our crew and then our customers, we were overwhelmed by the loving responses we received. Not every business gets to say goodbye on its own terms. We were lucky to make this choice for ourselves, eat one last breakfast with our crew and open our doors to welcome people to the bakery for one last hurrah on Aug. 30.
Customers lined up outside the shop, some waiting hours, to say goodbye and get a sparkling cupcake.
Right now, we don’t know what the future holds. We’re trying to embrace the slowness of life and savor simple moments walking our dog or sipping our morning coffee. We’re talking about writing a cookbook featuring some of our most popular treats or applying to be on the show “The Amazing Race.” We’re continuing to check in and share what we’re doing on our social media. You’ll see videos of us baking, but also of us talking about mental health.
Life has chapters. The story of Dos Chris’ may not have been a thousand-page epic, but it ended on a beautifully sweet note.
Dining and Cooking