Pie, Oh My

Local couple open Wellington shop during pandemic

At the newly opened My Pies shop on Wellington’s Main Street, one thing is clear: Wellington residents enjoy their pie. Snatching a few moments between customers at the end of a long day, husband and wife team, Chris and Jessica Loane provided an update on their latest venture. Cook, baker, creator extraordinaire, Jessica Loane, along with husband Chris, have been in business just seven days and have been run off their feet since day one. They admit it has been hard keeping up with the volume in a week Jessica describes as “overwhelmingly positive”.

Locals may be familiar with Jessica and her pies, but having a bricks and mortar storefront is a first for this entrepreneurial couple. Having both worked in the hospitality industry, Chris admits a future in hospitality wasn’t looking good due to the COVID-19 outbreak. “We decided to revisit this pie business to see what would happen because take-out pies are a really good thing right now,” he says. Jessica had been renting space at the commercial kitchen at the Lehigh Arena, where she would make her pies and deliver them to the community. “It’s funny because Jess and I had been doing the meals for a while and we’d done some other things, and we love this village, and then the whole world stopped, and we were thinking of what to do next.”

Jessica and Chris Loane inside their newly opened Wellington shop, My Pies.

Chris says they hope to fill a void with their breakfast menu with breakfast pies and locally-roasted Cherry Bomb Coffee. My Pies offers a range of pies, savoury and sweet, depending on the day and on the season, but they also cater to custom orders. He says they are really excited for fall when they will focus on apples. Jessica describes her dinner pies as a meal in a pie. “It’s a full nutritious meal with turkey, gravy, peas, carrots and mashed potatoes, stuffing and cranberries, so each piece is a whole meal,” she says.

After a serious hand injury three years ago, this next life chapter speaks to Jessica’s determination and courage. Renovating a home they had purchased, Jessica was working on a wood floor when her fingers encountered the blade of a table saw. “I wasn’t even thinking and I chopped the top of three fingers off,” she says. While two were successfully re-attached, one wasn’t and what followed was months of rehab. “Funnily enough, it was a hand, the physicality of it, but a lot of it was the confidence thing and it knocked me down a bit, so it took me more to come back from that.”

While the modest inside space is closed to patrons right now, purchases can be made safely at the window at the front of the shop. They plan to smarten-up the interior where one wall will be wallpapered with a custom design by local artist Kate Golding featuring images of Jessica’s pies. “When I first thought of a pie shop, I thought cherries and brights, old-school stuff, but then I thought, it’s a little bit more like my grandmother’s house, a little bit more calm, so it’s a paper very much like that, little pretty pies,” explains Jessica.

Originally from Newfoundland, Jessica has fond memories of blueberry picking with her grandmother as a child. “When we came back, we would make blueberry pie, so the blueberry is pretty nostalgic for me, but that’s really what started me baking.” Eventually, they will allow seating inside for 16 to 20 people, and the hope is for a small outdoor seating area too. “We are hoping to eventually licence it and stay open later on Friday and Saturday nights,” adds Chris.

The idea for the new venture is to keep it local as much as possible. “We decided that if we were going to do this, then make it local,” says Chris. County artists and craftspeople and producers have all played a part from the design of the logo, to the posters, to all the fruit (Lakeshore Farms Market), to the beef (Walt’s Sugar Shack). The local angle didn’t stop there as they were able to purchase some used equipment from local business people too. “We’ve been here for a while, so we have gotten to know everybody really well and everybody always helps each other out, it’s no different this time,” says Jessica.

“We are just a small place, but Jess is literally the engine of the whole place,” says Chris. “I’m staying away from the kitchen as much as possible, I’m not allowed to be in the kitchen, except for cleaning,” he laughs. While Jessica is in charge of the kitchen and the baking, Chris deals with the orders.

“It’s also just the two of us and we don’t really want to hire anyone else just now as business is tight margins,” he says, but adds it is nice to have a little place they can call their own.

“It’s been weird opening a business during this time, but it’s been really responsive,” says Chris, who notes they had a small angel investor help them out. “That was very nice and it was very kismet and it all came together; it was neat, especially when you decide to focus local, it’s amazing how the opportunities present themselves,” he says. “We really feel it is a need for the village right now, and especially with everyone coming in on the weekends.”

My Pies is located at 186 Main Street, Wellington (in the plaza beside Rock ‘N Rogers Pizzeria). They are open six days a week (closed Wednesdays): Monday and Tuesday noon to 5 p.m., Thursday to Sunday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.. My Pies can be reached at facebook.com/mypiespec or by calling 613.399.3300.