Pi(e) Day 2019 Recap
You might have heard by now that today was Pi(e) Day. To celebrate, we sold all of our baby and nine-inch pies at a $3.14 discount. And despite starting our baking in the middle of the night (literally), we were barely able to meet the demand all day long. To set the scene, this is how it felt most of the day at PJP Buttonwood.
Here’s the breakdown of how it all went:
Our earliest customers arrived before 9:30, enduring a long wait in a brisk March wind. Nothing makes Team PJP move faster than a line accumulating down the sidewalk and around the building.
As it turns out, there would be a line out the door all day, with the exception of four minutes around 3:20 this afternoon. The line was so long at 5:15 pm that I questioned aloud if some sort of tour bus had dropped all the people off at once.
In the midst of everything that happened this week, Jeanne cut her thumb yesterday while she was at home. Because she is stubborn, she refused to go to Urgent Care last night and rather waited until this morning. After receiving eight stitches and a tetanus shot, she went home and then texted me at least five times to ask how everything was going. And that’s approximately four times more than she texted me in all of 2018.
Without question, we achieved more in quantity production than in any previous year and a marked level in the increase of flavor options than in any previous year. I know a lot of people may not have found their tried and true favorites on the shelf but were nonetheless excited to try something new, especially at a discounted price. We appreciated all the kind words and patience. We truly do have the best customers.
We did have quite a few new visitors to PJP. I couldn’t stress it enough to them - WE ARE NORMAL PEOPLE EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR EXCEPT PI(E) DAY AND THANKSGIVING. Goodness, I hope they come back on a regular Thursday and find all sorts of options and 100% less stress.
Because we made more than I anticipated, I did have to go to Sam’s around noon and buy several hundred dollars worth of butter and pecans. While I waited to checkout, a woman in front of me couldn’t get her debit card to work to buy a $3.48 package of hamburger buns, so I bought them for her. She was very thankful, and then she noticed my cart and asked me what the heck I was doing with 60 pounds of butter. Occupational hazard.
Team PJP was a delight, as always. This entire week we’ve started baking early and stayed late. When kids in their twenties show up at 5 am without being asked, my heart just about bursts with pride at their level of commitment to making PJP the best.
I did feel the energy waning as we rolled into the late afternoon. I had a very specific sales goal in mind, so I offered everyone on Team PJP a $25 gift card to the store of their choice if we hit the goal. YOU’VE NEVER SEEN PEOPLE BAKE SO FAST.
Spoiler alert: We hit the goal. And I have some gift cards to buy. They are well deserved, indeed.
And when you look at all the numbers, we outpaced last year by 18%. I remember thinking last year that we had made all the pies humanly possible…and here we are this year, 18% more pies. #WORLDPIEDOMINATION