A Front Row Seat
It seems astounding to me that we are ready to have this conversation again, especially on Halloween, but here we are. Thanksgiving LOOMS.
This will be our NINETH Thanksgiving - our first being a small scale 300 pie experience out of the Elks Lodge commercial kitchen way back in 2013 when we were young and fresh and didn’t know a single thing. And last year, we did just around 2,400 pies at PJP Nifong over the three days leading to Thanksgiving. Here’s a few most commonly asked questions about Thanksgiving at PJP:
How will Thanksgiving at PJP be different with two stores? Well, for the most part, the process won’t really change. While we will have two pickup locations, we will also have double the chaos, double the orders, and double the chances to not order enough sugar.
How many pies are you going to make? Good question. We’ve made some projections based on last year’s numbers and accounted for our growth from adding in a second location, but until orders close on November 12th, it’s all just conjecture. (But don’t kid yourself, Jason has a spreadsheet…so really I speak solely for myself when I say conjecture. I appreciate the Wild Wild of it all.)
Can I walk into PJP on the day before Thanksgiving and buy a pie? GOALS. It sounds lovely, doesn’t it? In a perfect pie baking world, you would waltz in and find stacks of fresh pumpkin, pecan, and apple pies for purchase. But since we live in a real world with real humans baking pies from scratch, I’m going to STRONGLY SUGGEST you pre-order your pies for pickup on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday of Thanksgiving week. We will sell any extras we have available, but make no guarantees.
Wait, what about pies for the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving? We are going to break a longstanding tradition this year and we are going to open on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. It’s like you wouldn’t know that just a few days prior we baked thousands of pies, minus our whisking elbows and the dark circles under our eyes. We will keep our baking list narrowed down to our 12 most popular holiday flavors for the duration of the week because while we are crazy, we aren’t that crazy.
Can I order 10 tarts, eight Jelly Jar pies, and a give-inch gooseberry pie for that Wednesday? For Thanksgiving orders, we only offer pies in the nine-inch size (that’s six to eight slices, depending on how generously you slice it). This helps us be as efficient as possible and work as quickly as possible to make as many pies as possible.
How Do You Feel About It All? Terrified. I’ve seen PJP at her best and her worst at Thanksgiving, so I take nothing for granted. Obviously, I’ve also never done this in two places. It should be a holiday for the PJP history books, that’s for sure. Consider this your ticket to the front row seating.
So what can I order? We curated the list to our top sellers and here it is: Brown Butter Chess, Butterscotch Bourbon Pecan, Cherry Crisp, Chocolate Chess, Chocolate Bourbon Pecan, Dutch Apple, French Silk, Peach Praline, Pumpkin, Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble, Southern Pecan, and White Chocolate Strawberry.
Pot Pie? Quiche? No? Yes - just not for pre-order. We are keeping freezers at both stores well stocked and we suggest purchasing now and just holding at your house for the next few weeks. Last year we learned that balancing the need to cook hundreds of pounds of chicken and a few thousand pies was ambitious. Ahem.
Also, gluten free? We have heard your cries, and we have responded. Gluten free options for Thanksgiving this year. And shoot, sugar free while we are at it. And even a gluten free/sugar free if you are really checking all the dietary restriction boxes this year. We got you.
Excellent. How do I order? Right HERE.
