So, There's That.

October is proving to be a busy pie-making month and an excellent training ground for our quest of world pie domination.  Here are the highlights of what we've been working on...

  1. We are now selling ice cream at PJP Buttonwood.  A few weeks ago, the nice people at Giofre Apiaries stopped by with some samples for us and we quickly fell in love with their product.  (Giofre Apiaries is a local business...the current owners purchased the former Walk-About Acres).  Without question, our favorite thing about the ice cream from Giofre Apiaries is the freshness of the product.  We know their line of honey ice creams will be the most amazing compliment to our pies and we can't wait for you to stop by and try it.
  2. We are going to be featured in Feast magazine (http://www.feastmagazine.com) next month.  If you aren't familiar, Feast is a regional magazine for foodies and their photography is absolutely amazing.  We will talk more about our experience with our interview in a later blog post, but we are super excited to now be a distributor of Feast magazine at PJP Buttonwood.  When you stop by for pie and ice cream, be sure to pick up a free issue.  This month's issues has a great article about Logboat Brewery in downtown Columbia.
  3. The treasurer for the King's Daughters festival now has our check and our application in her hands.  So we can't back out, even though we are terrified that we won't bring enough product to sell...or that we will bring too much product to sell.  I actually Googled "how to figure out how much product to bring to a craft show" earlier today.  A lot of sites suggest targeting sales of 10 times your cost of the booth...so, for us, $3500 worth of product.  That makes me want to lay down and pull the covers over my head.
  4. One day last week, we had photographers from two different publications there to photograph us while we worked.  We felt a bit like a Kardashian sister with all the flash bulbs and attention...except we are older, chubbier, and I'll bet neither Kim, Kourtney, or Khloe ever get stopped at the grocery store for advice on how to make a meringue.
  5. We spent a lovely part of our afternoon last Thursday with Valerie Zumwalt from CoMo Leaders recording a podcast about our story and some insights into owning a business in Columbia.  This is one of the most fun things I've done since starting PJP V. 2.0...Valerie had some great questions for us and she focuses on the motivation behind owning a business.  She really made me stop and think about the PJP journey in a new way.  We expect our session to be available for download in early November on the CoMo Leaders website (http://comoleaders.com).  (Until then, take a listen to some of the podcasts already available...really interesting stuff.)
  6. Last week, I posted on Facebook about your feelings about Doormail (http://doormailcoupons.com).  If you aren't familiar, Doormail is a huge stack of coupons that are delivered to your mailbox each month.  They offered us a great deal to be a part of the October delivery and I thought it was a great opportunity for us (as did most of you).  Jeanne wasn't a fan.  In the end, we made some compromises and Ric at Doormail threw in some perks, so look for us at a mailbox near you soon.  And to woo Jeanne in, Ric promised us the primo third page in the stack spot, so even if you don't love Doormail...at least look at the first three pages.
  7. We had a customer order 300 jelly jar pies for pickup on Saturday.  And maybe you care and maybe you don't, but my hands are still sore from screwing on 300 lids and that is really pathetic.  But true.
  8. We are featured in this month's Columbia Home magazine.  It is a great article and the picture didn't make us want to invest in nine pairs of Spanx, so there's that.
  9. We've heard your demands and beef pot pie is on the menu for this Friday.  You heard it here first.
  10. We are working on a new product.  Basically, we take our peach praline topping and roast it in the oven and then drizzle it in homemade caramel sauce.  We sampled it out to rave reviews on Friday, so the plan this week is to bag it and sell it.  Except we can't think of a name for it and have no idea how much it will cost.  Sounds about like us.

So, we will see you this week for ice cream, free magazines, coupons, and as-yet-unnamed snacks.  And pie.

 

Peggy Jean's Blogpies@pjpies.comComment