National Pi(e) Day
Maybe you’ve heard by now (at least once or one thousand times), but yesterday was National Pi(e) Day. We celebrated by discounting all dessert pies by $3.14 all day at each store. We’ve claimed the national sponsorship for this annual event, so we spend weeks planning and preparing our baking schedules at each store to plan for the most fun day. (If you are curious about how we’ve deemed ourselves the national sponsors, it’s basically because I decided it to be so. I’m convinced no one does it with more fanfare or more pie than us.)
And as you might guess, it was a rousing success. The best thing about Pi(e) Day is that almost every person is in a good mood and just excited to participate in a fun holiday, whether they like math or not. And because it is the one holiday we don’t allow pre-orders and instead insist upon first come, first served, customers are open to trying new flavors they might not try at full price. And so besides all the work it takes to get ready, it is a pretty chill day overall. We had people waiting at 10 am at both locations, but otherwise had a steady stream in and out the door all day. By noon, we decided a revolving door would be a super good ideas for future PJPs.
If you’ve been around here for long, you probably remember this event used to SLAY US. Mostly what I remember from our days at Buttonwood is people sitting on the bench in the lobby and waiting for whatever pie came out of the oven boiling hot and they would just buy it because that’s all we had. I know that sounds silly now, but it was the reality at the time. It was stressful from the moment we opened to the moment we closed. And even in the last big event before COVID in 2020, we had a line reaching all the way to the back door of Nifong, even though that year was 1/3 of the volume we did yesterday. Adding a second store comes with so much more work and responsibility, but so worth it when it balances demand. We’ve also learned to plan the weeks leading up to March 14th more than we ever considered at Buttonwood.
All that said, here are the highlights of the day:
Items sold: Just over 2,500.
Start time: 4 am
Most popular: Banana Cream. Least popular: Pumpkin.
Number of happy people: 99% (the other 1% read the offer as each nine-inch pie priced at $3.14, not a $3.14 discount).
Number of people who asked if I understood mathematical pi: Too many. I hereby apologize to all math enthusiasts who visited us to discuss the mathematical pie, plus dessert pie because I’m an expert on only one of those topics.
So 10/10 for National Pi(e) Day 2023. Next year with be our 10th celebration, so the pressure is on for the biggest pie day event ever. Unlikely though that I’ll grasp the concept of mathematical pi by then, but we can all hope…