Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Wilbanks.
Amanda, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up cooking and baking with my mom but rarely making homemade pies. Homemade pasty is something that is so delicate. When making it you have to follow directions; it’s a science. When cooking you add a little of this and a little of that and “TADA”, but with baking and pastry making you have to slow down, relax and concentrate on the process. Slowing down is extremely difficult for me. I’m high energy all the time. When my mother in law baked with me for the first time, I noticed how slowly and methodically she worked. She made pie with such grace and calmness. As I watched her bake, I began to take interest and wanted to learn more. And then, of course, taking a bite of the sweet buttermilk pie after it baked sealed the deal! I was in LOVE at first bite.
I wanted to make pies and give to my neighbors. I started making pies for fun just to see how they would turn out. Alex, my husband, would come in on his lunch break and eat almost half a pie. Needless to say the pies never made it to the neighbors. One day Alex came in from work and said he had signed me up for a festival. I said, “What in the world for?” He said, “So you can sell these pies. I can’t keep eating all of them!” He signed me up on a Tuesday and I was selling pies by Thursday afternoon. I created a company name, logo, and had business cards printed in less than 48 hours. How I did it to this day I will never know. I bought a tent, put out a sign, and started selling pies on a Thursday afternoon. I sold pies at the festival all weekend long. I wore heels, a suit jacket, and my pearls and handed out over 1500 business cards. The festival was a huge success. It was the official start of the company. A couple months later, we leased a space and opened our first retail location in Gainesville, Georgia. Now we have 3 retail locations, in Alpharetta, Buckhead, and Gainesville, a production facility, a wholesale division, and a shipping division of the company where we drop ship for customers such as Dean and Deluca and Garden and Gun Mercantile.
We have been in business 5 years. We have won numerous awards for our pies. Our Caramel Pecan pie was the 2016 recipient of the Flavor of Georgia contest. Our pie was chosen as the grand prize winner out of 132 gourmet food products and is the Official Pie Of Gainesville, Georgia.
Awards:
2017 Business Person of Excellence Award – Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce
2016 Master Entrepreneur – Entrepreneur Masters of Innovation
2017 Buckhead Business of the Year Nominee – Buckhead Business Association
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It’s been a great journey. There has certainly been ups and downs along the way. Some of the greatest challenges I’ve faced has been trying to get our name out in new markets. Business recognition is always difficult when you are a small business with limited funds. Although we have a fabulous and loyal following in Gainesville, when we opened our Buckhead store not many people knew who we were. We spent the first year in Buckhead doing grass roots marketing, joining civic organizations, volunteering in the community, and taking part in every networking event possible to ensure that people found out who we were. We now have a wonderful following. As the company grows, we look forward to opening more stores and establishing a dominate regional brand in the southeast.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Southern Baked Pie Company story. Tell us more about the business.
Business is owned by me, Amanda Wilbanks. I’m 30 years old. I started the company when I was 25. I’m married to Alex and we have two precious little boys (Austin 8 years, Dalton 2 years). Alex now works with the company and is the COO.
I started the business out of my home in 2012. The recipes are all family recipes. We are known for our all butter pie crust. It will literally melt in your mouth. The great thing about our pies are they taste as good as they look. We specialize in both sweet and savory pies. Our chicken pot pie is the number 1 best seller in the store. Our Caramel Pecan pie is the second best seller. It won the grand prize at the Flavor of Georgia competition in 2016 and is now the official Flavor of Georgia. Other customer favorites are the taco pie, beef stroganoff pie and apple pie!
Our pies come in a variety of sizes: whole pies (feeds 6-8), petite pies (feeds 1-2), tassies (bite-sized pies).
The thing that sets us apart is our commitment to maintaining the best tasting pie by offering a consistent product made with local ingredients each and every time. We also believe our customer experience is second to none. When you walk into our stores, you are immediately greeted and treated as if you are an old friend, whether you have shopped with us 10 times or it’s your first time. We epitomize southern hospitality in all we do.
I am most proud of the work I did to create our Buckhead and Alpharetta retail stores. I designed every inch of the store without the assistance of a design firm. I knew I wanted the retail locations to feel warm, welcoming, classy, and comfortably upscale. On opening day when I saw everything come together, I knew I had created not only a pie shop filled with delectable pies and exceptional staff, but a very well branded retail experience for all to enjoy.
Our company has experienced exponential growth over the years. We now have 3 retail locations, a production and distribution facility, a wholesale division that supplies to restaurants and the hospitality industry, and a commerce business where we ship pies all over the US. We also drop ship for companies such as Dean & Deluca and Garden and Gun Mercantile.
I grew up in Habersham County in Baldwin, Georgia. My mom cooked every single meal. She was a phenomenal cook. She could throw an amazing meal together, complete with dessert every night in less than an hour. We only ate out on the weekends. I spent my afternoons at the bar watching mom cook, while she called out my sigh words, helped me with my homework, and made dinner all the same time. I So, I always grew up around cooking. My grandparents always had a garden. We literally ate what we grew. It sounds funny, but farm to table was a thing at our house before farm to table became a “trend”. It was just a way of life. I remember the food tasting SO much better back then.
My parents were business owners in the community. I grew up listening to them talk about business, customers, jobs, employees, and the day in and day out highs and lows of owning a business. I was always a little nosey. My family said they could always find me right up under an adult, listening intently to their conversations. I truly believe that is how you learn the most, listening to others mistakes and successes. I always knew I wanted to do something that would make a difference in the world…..better it in some way. I majored in biology at the University of Georgia. I thought I wanted to be a pediatric oncologist. I just knew being a doctor and saving lives would be my calling. I quickly realized biology wasn’t for me. I called my parents one day and let them know I was changing my major to business. They were shocked. It turned out being the best decision I ever made. I graduated with a business degree in marketing from the Terry College of Business. While taking business classes, I quickly realized I wanted to own my own company. Never would I have dreamed I would own a pie company, though. I took a job with State Farm straight out of college. I was an aspirant in a program that trained you to become a State Farm agent. While working with State Farm, I learned to sell – not only to sell insurance but to sell myself – my personality. I learned to NEVER fear rejection. I learned to NEVER accept NO for an answer. I received so many “No’s”, “I’m not interested”, “Do not call me back’s”, “Take me off the list”, responses at State Farm. Learning how to respond to NO or handle rejection made me a much better business owner today and ultimately gave me the courage to start my own company. It’s through hearing NO, that I learned to develop a lack of fear and what gave me the courage to quit my job and start my own company. When I left State Farm my family said, “No, Amanda. Don’t give up your career. That’s the worst idea EVER!” I knew I would take their No’s and turn them into Yes’s eventually. It was a challenge for me and I loved a challenge.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I have to admit I’m not a huge believer in luck. I think God places you in certain situations and you can either thrive or not.
Pricing:
- Whole Sweet Pies (10inch) $35
- Whole Savory Pies (10inch) $39.95
- Petite Sweet & Savory Pies (5inch) $9.95
- Slices of Pie $4.95
- Tassies (Bite Sized Sweet Pies) $2.99
Contact Info:
- Address: Gainesville:
302 Broad Street, SE, Suite C
Gainesville, GA 30501
678.971.2555Buckhead:
3145 Peachtree Road,
Suite 165
Atlanta, GA 30305
404.263.0820Alpharetta:
The Atwater at Old Milton Parkway
2685 Old Milton Parkway, Suite 130
Alpharetta, GA 30009
678.254.0598 - Website: www.southernbakedpie.com
- Phone: 4042630656
- Email: info@southernbakedpie.com
- Instagram: @southernbakedpie
- Facebook: facebook.com/southernbakedpie
- Twitter: twitter.com/southernbakedpi
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
