Who Wants To Bake More Pie?

For those of you who have been following the blog for a while now, you know that this blog is all about transparency in this process...what works and what doesn't, what is fun on this journey and what isn't, what has us stymied and what has us laughing... So let's talk about Lucky's.  It is pretty much all Jeanne and I have talked about for the past week, so why stop now?  (We've been so busy that I'm basically forgetting to tell her all the normal things I would tell her on an average day, so forgive me here, but mom - that Smashbox foundation you bought me at Ulta is the BEST and we need to get you some).

Unless you were abducted by an alien in the past week, you are well aware that the Lucky's Market opened on Providence last Tuesday.  I would wager that 80% of Columbia has been in that store in the past six days.  Because I take pies for delivery in the mornings and then usually stop by in the late afternoon to survey our inventory, I can tell you that Columbia is in a major love affair with all the grass-fed beef, gluten-free chips, and .88 cent strawberries in that store.  I was there Sunday at 11 am and overheard at least two hipsters proclaiming the store was "so fun" while sipping $2 pints of beer and pushing their shopping cards.  I myself just took a swig off my Diet Hansen's zero calories, sugar free, all natural flavors grape soda that came right out of Aisle 3.

That was all a long way to say, WE ARE SELLING A TON OF PIE.  Everyday we bake and everyday Lucky's runs out.  We bake more and Lucky's runs out again.  We bake a whole lot and Lucky's calls and says they are out of pie.  We couldn't be more thrilled to be so well received and we love every single one of you who have rolled your cart out of the store with one of our pies in it (or tried, because we know often the supply is out before our customers can even get to it).

In the name of first world problems, this has created some unique challenges for us over the past week.  Ideally, Lucky's would like to have 25-30 pies each day and 100 each weekend day (well, at least for the grand opening weekend scheduled for the 25th).  Ideally, we would like to fill that order without going crazy in the interim until our shop is open.  Or ideally, I would like to not break into terror sweats every time I see Lucky's number pop up on my phone.

You see where this is leading?

Elks.

Yep, I said it.  We used the Elks last week for baking but we were taking 10-14 pies in a day and so it felt like a skip in the park.  Today, we did 26 and tomorrow we are planning 28.  The Elks gave us a key and we get to leave all our stuff in the kitchen.  It other words, this all just got real.  We are ramping up production in a way that we never anticipated needing so soon.

We really hope this increased production will satisfy the demands of Lucky's AND of our favorite people, our customers.  We are also trying some new flavors (well, new to Lucky's, old to PJP fans) - tomorrow look for cherry, blueberry, blackberry, and strawberry rhubarb.  We also plan to throw a mixed berry into the plan this week as well!

There has been some confusion for our customers about how to find our pies in the store.  Lucky's produces quite a few of their own pies on a daily basis...they typically have an "L" sticker on the top of the pie.  They also seem to conveniently (read: inconveniently) share table space with our display.  I know a few customers have thought they were buying a Peggy Jean's Pie, but realized after they got home that they did, in fact, have a Lucky's pie.

Here is a picture of authentic Peggy Jean's Pie at Lucky's:

We always have our logo sticker on the top, above the pie window.  We also have our logo on the pie type sticker AND we have a QR code...once you scan that code with your phone, it takes you directly to our website, www.pjpies.com.  You really can't escape the PJP branded all over that box.  Finally, our ingredient label seals the box.  If you look at the top of the picture, you can see some Lucky's pies and their ingredient labels look quite different.  They have also started to put string around their boxes.

As a final note on Lucky's (I swear, tomorrow I'm discussing something different), we will be sampling pie there on Sunday afternoon as part of the local vendors fair from 11-3.  Put it on your calendar...if anything to drink a $2 pint with us and help new shoppers find our pies!