We recently connected with Julie Albertson and have shared our conversation below.
Julie, appreciate you joining us today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?
A crazy story that has impacted us was being contacted by a reality show to have us on an episode. I decided to present our Pie Dough Puck for the interview. We weren’t selected, I was sad but not deterred. I tried several times with our Pie Dough Puck idea for several reality shows. In 2016 I was shopping and saw the call for HEB’s Quest for Texas Best Contest. I gathered my courage and wrote my essay hoping this would be “the one” that noticed us. We got the call from HEB Grocery that we were selected as a finalist. I was beyond elated! Being chosen by this Company is big deal in Texas. I went to the final round with 20 other Companies hoping to have them notice us. I was so nervous about giving our pitch to the Judges and presenting our product to them. The big day came, we were in the prep kitchen and the ovens died! I was sure it was going to be a disaster. But, as luck would have it they brought in a new oven, and we baked on. Hands and knees shaking, I entered the auditorium with pie samples in hand. I decided to go to the judges myself and hand out samples, greeting each one and expressing my gratitude. Well I had 15 min for my presentation, but, I was so nervous it only lasted 5 min. Turning to the judges I opened the floor for questions, Best thing I could have done, they were asking so many questions it was ideal. I was able to relax and be candid about my Pie Dough. No more nerves, we were talking Pie. The presentation ran over because of the Judges questions. They loved our Pie Dough and ate every crumb of the samples. Next day was the final award. There were so many fantastic Companies competing I was happy to have been selected even if we didn’t win. They listed off all the winners, my name wasn’t called. Then they called the Grand Champion winner, it was Texas Pie Company. First I thought I heard it wrong, then realized it was me. I burst into tears. We won $25000 and were offered a contract with HEB for the Company’s own Brand, with packaging, advertising, and promotion throughout the State of Texas. HEB had our product repackaged, and on the shelves in record time, 3 months. Just in time for the Holiday Push. Again, beyond elated. We had been noticed and verified!
Upon returning home to Kyle our City was a buzz with the news. Our Economic Development and Tourism office contacted us about branding our small town as “Kyle, the Pie Capital of Texas”. Of course we said yes! So, now Kyle is the Pie Capital of Texas. We bring tourists in from all of the nation to try our Pie. Businesses in Kyle are part of the branding, and all became “Certi-Pied” bringing the community in on the participation. Since then, we have been featured in numerous TV spots, new articles, web interviews, SBA Central Texas Small Women owned Business of the Year 2019, and the latest is having been in “People Magazine” in February 2023, and in “That’s Life” magazine in Australia and New Zealand. So when asked “tell us a crazy positive story” , that’s mine. I took flour, butter, shortening and determination and turned it into something magical!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am Chef and business owner Julie Albertson. I started my first bakery when I lost my job, and needed money for the Holidays. That was in 1985. I went to office parks and sold my hand made pies door to door. Soon after I rented a closed pizza kitchen and opened my first bakery. I set out with a plan, a rolling pin and recipes in hand. I went to restaurants in the Central Texas Area with fresh baked pies and said “try the pie with your afternoon coffee” no pitch just pie. The pies spoke for themselves. We soon had 30 restaurants that we baked for bi-weekly. I was sales girl, baker, and delivery person. I sold that bakery and opened Texas Pie Company in 1988. I baked from a small kitchen, and hand rolled the dough. In 2000, we bought a brick and mortar in Kyle Texas. The building was perfect, on the Old Town Square, and just charming. Just what I had dreamed of. Texas Pie Company became the beating heart of our small downtown. The place to come for lunch, pie, and the smells reminiscent of holiday baking and Home. We still bake for Restaurants in Central Texas, and have a great following of Clientele that make the trek to Kyle for Pie. We still bake in small batch mixes even though we bake thousands of pies weekly. The small craft style baking has kept our pies true to form, with simple whole ingredients. We make all our pie dough and fillings in house using our Family recipes.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
During the Covid shut downs was the scariest time for Texas Pie Company. At that time we had 18 employees that depended on us. My husband and I were terrified. The City of Kyle allowed us to stay open, but, customers were leery of getting out and about. I was still determined not to fail. I decided to offer the small grocery experience. We sold eggs, butter, sugar, and anything I could get delivered. Our customers rallied and not wanting to go stand in line at a large retailer, would call and order groceries that we delivered to their cars. It still wasn’t enough to keep our employees busy. So, I taught our employees how to cut patterns for masks, spoke to a seamstress and she and I sewed masks. We sold enough handmade masks to pay our employees and cover our mortgage. We also ran a special, buy a pie and get free rolls of toilet paper. We became resilient in the face of catastrophe. We shifted gears with every punch. It paid off, we are still here and just as determined as the first day we opened our doors.
If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?
Our company was started selling wholesale pies to Restaurants. When we opened our brick and mortar retail it became apparent that you cant live on Pie alone. To increase our revenue stream we started selling lunches to get more customers through our front doors. We were offered to cater for an event, I said yes even though I had never done it before. Creating our catering Clientele was slow at first. But over the years it has become a profitable revenue stream. It’s not our main source of income, but it has given us a broader exposure with new clients we feed from each event. We offer full service catering now up to 1000 guests, and have been catering for Gala events for 22 years. We also purchased a vending trailer, and have been going to festivals and special events which has been great for advertising and increase revenue and public exposure.
We also ship pies world wide.
We never say no to a job, or an opportunity to increase our exposure. We have an umbrella Company Julie’s Pies of Texas Inc. Under this umbrella we have 3 DBA’s- The Texas Pie Company, Moongate Mercantile (Plant Nursery); and Pie Dough Puck of Texas.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.texaspiecompany.com
- Instagram: @texaspieco
- Facebook: @texaspieco