Pie pop-up
Last month I had an incredible opportunity to host a pop-up in Antoine’s Cookie Shop. I was excited to try scaling up my pie production. “Try” because I considered it just an experiment. But I walked away having sold a bunch of pies, seen many familiar faces, and made some sweet memories with my family.
Now, people are asking me how it went! In a word: fun! And when they ask more questions, this is what I tell them:
How many pies did you make?
17 large pies and 45 minis. I also made 12 mini quiches to see how sales of savory vs. sweet will compare.
How long did it take?
Making one pie from scratch takes about 2.5 hours, plus an hour or more for cooling, depending on your will power to wait. For post-pop-up retrospective, I wanted to be able to tell how long all this prep and baking took, and so I tried to time myself, but kept losing continuity. These are some very rough estimates: On day 1, I made all of the dough and rolled bottom crusts (4hrs). On day 2, I finished and baked all large pies (7hrs). On day 3, I baked all of the minis and had the pop-up (7hrs). On day 4, I rested.
Did you sell everything?
Almost! I came home with one large pear pie, short of a slice, and 3 slices of apple pie. It turns out – and I really should have guessed it – that we, as a people, are drawn to small, self-contained things! I had planned to sell large pies by slice only, but once I saw how quickly cute little minis in their cute little tins were flying off compared to their triangular equivalents, I gladly parted with several whole pies when someone inquired about them.
What sold best?
Mini-pies. All and any. Filling didn’t appear to matter. In fact, the mix’n match-ability was their natural charm. By slice though, good ol’ apple pie sold best.
Was it profitable?
Maybe. The sales certainly covered my expenses, which is an absolute win. I really cared more about learning from this experience than profits, and I definitely got what I was after. I learned that I actually can churn out 4 pies while the previous batch is baking – pat on the back here. I learned that my counter space becomes somewhat limited at 12 pies. I learned that your standard five pound bag of flour actually produces about 15 cups of flour versus the promised 17, sending me back to the store for the nth time.
I did try to tabulate all my costs (discounting electricity and eggs for the egg wash – they were in my fridge already, right?) and attempted to break those down by pie size and filling. But my spreadsheet became extra funky and jumbled, and honestly, I was winging it at the pop-up in the end, really, so calculations wouldn’t be accurate anyways. Better tracking next time!
Will you do it again?
Probably. Not sure when exactly I’ll muscle up the nerve to do it again, but I think I will. It was a lot of work and a ton of fun. And thankfully, making that many pies did not deter me from baking again the following day!
I’m incredibly thankful to all the friends who came to support this crazy experiment. I also couldn’t have done it without the help of my family, my sister Gelena and my friend Jenn, as well as the generosity and trust of Antoine. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!!
