Those who knew Eric Shogren well considered him a visionary in the business world. The Minneapolis native opened restaurant chains across the United States and Russia during his three-decade career.

Before he died of a heart attack on Christmas Eve at age 59, Shogren mostly kept to himself within the food community, says Robb Leer, his publicist.

But, Leer adds, Shogren could sometimes be seen behind the counter, dishing out fried cinnamon rolls or apple cream cheese Danishes at Wuollet Bakery and offering customers a warm smile. People in the Twin Cities may know Shogren from his other bakeries and pastry shops, including A Baker’s Wife, Grandma’s Bakery, and Hans’ Bakery.

“From an early age, Eric had a true entrepreneurial spirit: curious, passionate, fearless, and driven to build things that brought people together,” the Shogren family told Twin Cities Business.

Shogren attended Blake High School (class of 1984) and was nicknamed “Shogie” as a kid. He grew up a big hockey fan and considered playing hockey at a professional level, Leer says. When that didn’t pan out, Shogren followed his entrepreneurial instincts. He started building businesses—including a T-shirt design company—often alongside brothers Mike and Bradley.

Years later, in the early 1990s, Shogren met his wife, Olga. Guided by relationships they formed through a connection between Blake High School and Novosibirsk, the two moved to the capital city of Siberia, in 1994.

Shogren started a business that supplied much of the luxury automobile market in Novosibirsk. After, the couple worked in the food industry, collaborating with SuperValu to bring the south-central Russian city its first supermarket.

The same year, the Shogrens launched New York Pizza, the city’s first fast-food pizza restaurant.

New York Pizza was more than a restaurant. The chain became a cultural touchstone for Novosibirsk, the Shogren family says, redefining everyday life and shaping the character of a post-Soviet urban city. New York Pizza grew to more than 30 locations across the country.

As New York Pizza built momentum in Europe, Shogren and his partner founded Kuzina. It became one of Russia’s leading bakery businesses. The duo also modernized the largest movie theater in Russia; opened the city’s first four-star French restaurant, Classica; and established the iconic nightclub New York Times, located next door to his New York Diner.

Over time, Leer says, Shogren operated more than 100 coffee and pastry shops under the Kuzina name, mostly outside Moscow. Today, Kuzina and New York Pizza continue on, led by the teams the Shogrens hired over the last 30 years.

Between the late 2000s and early 2010s, a criminal case was opened against Shogren. He was accused of nearly two dozen counts of fraud, according to the Russian newspaper Kommersant. Prosecutors alleged Shogren and Evgenia Golovkova, a top manager of New York Pizza, failed to pay supplier companies. The lawsuit also said the two defaulted on bank loans, causing damages amounting to almost 20 million rubles (about $252,000).

Around 2014, Shogren and Golovkova were acquitted, because the court concluded the statute of limitations in the case had expired. With the legal trouble settled, Shogren and his family returned to Minnesota.

As Shogren transitioned to spending more time in Minneapolis, he sought to leverage his experience in food and hospitality to contribute to his hometown. “He was an innovator at heart and consistently created places that brought people joy, grounded in his belief that great food builds community,” the Shogren family says.

When Shogren bought the Wuollet brand in 2019, he wanted to partner with the Wuollet family to honor the legacy of one of Minneapolis’s most beloved bakery businesses. In the years since, Shogren again faced lawsuits alleging failures to make payments. In 2024, Chicago-based Byline Bank filed lawsuits against Shogren and his entities. Prosecutors said he defaulted on two loans. With interest, Byline claimed Shogren owed $1.3 million, per court documents.

The family also battled multiple eviction proceedings at their Wuollet Bakery locations. Last September, the final Wuollet in Uptown closed its doors.

“[Eric] never closed the store without the intentions of somehow coming back with a new model,” Leer said. “[The family] fully anticipates they want to continue what [Eric] had been rebuilding.”

Wuollet Bakery has always been a family business. “They’ve got remarkable kids,” Leer adds. “They’ve all worked in the business and continue to support it.”

Shogren is survived by his mother, Pat Shogren; his wife, Olga; his children Anna, Alexander, Anastasia, Maxim, and Lev; a grandson, Rafael Eric; siblings and extended family, friends, and colleagues across the world.

A celebration of his life will be held at a later date.