Niles Pie Company loves you!! We did it!
I can't tell you how completely wonderful this is! What an amazing community of pie-loving fabulousness you are! I am absolutely wallowing in joy today!
So, now we need some stretch goals. This goal was based on the bare-bones budget to get us in the door - so now let's see what we can do! We could use a walk-in fridge/freezer, instead of reach-ins, and a couple more rolling racks would be a good idea.
$30,000 Stretch Goal
Overall incentive: For every additional $100 in contributions added, we'll be able to donate another 4 pies to Meals-on-Wheels. (If we can make another $5000 in pledges, that means another 200 pies for the program!)
Signed Prints! A 13 x 19 inch matte paper print of either the "Mucha Mandala" or the "Piece Now" designs, signed by the artist, Dave Longey. These are gorgeous. Mucha Mandala print: add $100 to your pledge. Piece Now print: add $75 to your pledge.
Need stuff NOW reward: If you are desperate for a reward before we get in the kitchen early next year, you can pledge for a Holiday Gift Basket for a $75 contribution! We will schedule pick ups for those in mid-December!
Just the Mug: Get one of those fabulous, exclusive Niles Pie "Piece Now" mugs, designed by Dave Longey. You have to be a backer to get one of these. After the campaign, that's it. Finito. A $15 add-on will get it to you.
Just the Tee: The lovely "Mucha Mandala" design by Dave Longey makes a great tee shirt. A $45 add-on will get it to you.
What's so special about Niles Pie?
Niles Pie Company is a great fusion of so much that I love. You can put anything in a pie - it's the most inclusive form of baking I can think of! Sweet, savory, simple or complex. Endless combinations of taste and texture. Color and aroma. Plus - and this is no small part of it - pie makes people happy. Everyone smiles when faced with a pie! And our pie is special. Our pie is rooted in the amazing bounty of the Bay Area. This amazing place that brings us such an abundance of produce and food year-round, just waiting to get tucked into an all-butter, flaky, delectable crust.
When I started Niles Pie, people started dropping cases of fruit on my front porch. We'd open the door, and there was a crate of Meyer lemons! I answered my phone to an offer of a trunk full of apricots from an abandoned family orchard in Milpitas. Walking the dog down 3rd street resulted in an armload of organic Butternut squash. Coming back down I Street meant a couple quarts of honey from a neighbor's bees. The Bay Area is an absolute cornucopia of produce. And our neighborhood of Niles is an epicenter of generosity and congeniality. Everyone is hugely supportive and excited, and everyone has leaped in to help and be part of it. I may have to have my kitchen just slightly outside of Niles, but Niles Pie is really about the generous spirit of our lovely town.
Here's what we do:
Right now we bake twice a week, in our rented kitchen space, fulfilling orders placed online. We deliver to a number of pick up locations around the Fremont area. We also supply pie and pastry to restaurants and cafes. With a full-time kitchen, there will be enough storage space to receive deliveries, rather than drive all the heck over the Bay Area (as much fun as that is). We'll be able to expand pick up locations, cultivate some more accounts, supply CSA's, offer cooking and baking classes, host events, and become a hub of baking and culinary activity in the area!
One of my goals has been to bake as locally and sustainably as possible. I source as much of my produce and ingredients as locally - and seasonally - as I can, and try to be as organic as possible. Another main goal is to be a truly local business - to be part of our community and the surrounding area. So it's a balancing act - keeping prices as low as I can and using the best available ingredients. Starting small has helped me be flexible, and given me time to get the customers to find me. It's working.
I've been a professional baker, pastry chef and cook for over 30 years, with plenty of breaks in between for other careers. Niles Pie is the result of coming back to the business after a pretty long break to raise my son and build a life here in the Bay Area. I've got lots of stories to tell from all different angles of life, and I can safely say I've never been happier than I am in front of a big wooden table with a rolling pin in my hand. If you want to know more about me and my background, and why I love to do what I do, check out this other video made by the fabulous Zoe Toffaleti a few months ago.
So, here's the deal. I need your help. I need to buy equipment. We're doing this on a shoestring, and we need more string.
The funding from this Kickstarter campaign will cover the equipment we need to open up the kitchen. Ovens, walk-in fridge & freezer, bakery cases, tables, rolling racks, all that stuff. We're going to create an awesome kitchen to work in, and an inviting, comfy and fun place to come get your pie. Your help is is key to getting us up and running.
We've come up with some great rewards - stuff you can't resist! David Drew Longey (who made that fantastic logo) is designing a mug and a tee shirt specially for this project. The only way you can get one of these is by donating to the project! There are rewards for your donations you can't get any other way - the baking classes, the party invites, the oven naming, the song, the pie-in-your-honor. We can ship the stickers, tees & mugs, but not the pies -- that wouldn't be very local, would it?
Questions? Send me an email at carolyn@nilespie.com
Risks and challenges
We need to raise the funding to buy our equipment. With everything else in place, the groundwork laid and ready to go, we will be ready to jump right in and get the doors open fast.
I've built out kitchens before, and I'm a solid business person, so I know how to anticipate the hurdles. Niles Pie Company has been tested, so we know the customers are already here - we just need to make them the pie they want when they want it!
So, here we are, at the threshold of Niles Pie's big leap. Come join us!
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Funding period
- (35 days)