974
So, you might have heard that last Friday, October 5th, was our $5 Friday event. And really, that is just a fancy way to say that when the calendar naturally falls with a Friday on the 5th of the month, we sell baby pies for $5. And while that is a few dollars off the standard retail price of a baby pie, the event is so fun that it brings HUNDREDS of customers to PJP Buttonwood. Here’s the breakdown of how it went:
Our last $5 Friday event was on May 5, 2017. On that day, we sold 193 baby pies.
On the morning of October 5th, a long line of customers snaked down the sidewalk as they waited for our 10 am opening. We had around 400 baby pies ready for the shelves because we had been working our little hearts out for a solid 24 hours.
And that is good, because all of those 400 baby pies were sold by 10:45 am. So, we just kept baking…and baking…and baking. And waiting for the line to subside AT LEAST long enough for the door to our storefront to close for just a few minutes. That didn’t happened until after 3 in the afternoon. The line even warranted a friendly stop by a Columbia police officer to ask what the heck was going on in our store.
In total, we sold 974 baby pies. In one day. NINE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FOUR BABY PIES. Let that sink in for a bit.
If you are thinking here, “huh, those PJP girls are pretty competitive…I wonder if they was aiming for 1,000 baby pies?”, the answer is YES, YES, WE WERE. Though in full disclosure, we didn’t decide that until we looked at our sales reports and saw that we had sold more than 700 babies by 3 pm.
We stayed well past 6 pm to see if we could get to that magical 1,000 but we finally decided it call it for good at around 6:30. The least for which we were out of all ingredients. And gumption. I think I’m going to need medical attention for m whisking elbow.
And in full disclosure, I cried a lot on the way home and even more once I got home because I was that terrible trifecta of disappointed in myself, exhausted, and grimy.
Behind-the-Scenes Jason had no chill for my emotional breakdown, insisting that selling 974 pies in one day was something to celebrate over…not ugly cry over. He was right, of course. But being tired and coming so close to a major goal is a terrible combination when one is already a dramatic person on the best of her days. Ahem.
We all really did have the nicest time on Friday (at least until after 5 pm). Team PJP got along well and each person working handled the stress of long lines like the pros that they always are. And 97% of our customers were happy, excited to be there, and amped to buy their baby pies straight out of the ovens. The other 3% didn’t care about $5 Friday and weren’t interested in waiting 45 minutes just to check out. Fair.
I was told at various points during the day by several customers that there are TWO Fridays the 5th in 2019. Here’s the goal: (…stop reading here, Team PJP) 2500 baby pies. And no tears.
