Requests have also come from Australia, for catered parties at American Airlines and Fox Studios, and their pies appeared at the opening of the Harry Potter ride at Universal Studios in Orlando. One couple even requested a threetiered wedding cake made entirely of pork pies. “One little old lady from Canada once ordered 100 pounds of bacon,” Damian says, smiling. “Customers go crazy. They say it’s the taste of home, that this is the real deal.”
AMERICAN PIE Authenticity is the secret behind the “humble pie,” as Damian calls it. Pot pies are a comforting taste of childhood for many, and delicious to boot. Its British roots go back to the 18th and 19th centuries, when Cornish factory workers headed to the tin mines in the mornings with a freshly baked sausage roll or pasty under their arms. Brits easily lapse into pie frenzies (“especially during Jubilee years,” Vicky laughs), but the Parkers hope that these from-scratch recipes will catch on in the States as well. “We’re trying to bring the boring, American pot pie out of the drab 1970s, to modernize it and make it new,” Damian explains, stressing that theirs are a world apart from the generic peas-and-chicken pies made by Banquet or Marie Callender’s. “We want to be a Ben and Jerry’s, a national company making a singular product the right way.” Damian never stops tinkering with his recipes, the product sourcing and the latest marketing concepts. In fact, his obsession with flavors has turned into a new product line called “Pie Mad,” launching this year. Geared toward college students and younger professionals in need of a satisfying snack, the American-style pot pies will capitalize on variety, convenience and a recessionfriendly price (about $4 to $5 for the small pies). Damian says he has 90 recipes so far, including the “Buffalonian,” a soon-to-be local favorite with chicken in a spicy hot sauce; a Philly steak-and-cheese pie; “Paddy’s Pie,” with beef, potato and gravy; and other varieties like Memphisstyle pulled pork; Mexican rice and beans; and jerk chicken (the “Reggae”). All aim to celebrate the ethnic diversity of American foods. What Damian calls the “English Pie Company” will soon produce 400,000 pie fillings every 2.5 hours for the traditional and Pie Mad product lines. They’re expanding their freezer capacity to attract wholesalers, adding a line of sweet dessert pies and tarts, and hope to begin nationwide distribution in supermarkets, bars and specialty food shops. The USDA certification, full of endless legal paperwork
The steak and ale variety is among customers’ favorites.
and daily inspections (enter that accounting and law training), will allow them to distribute in Canada and eventually hire up to 50 employees on three shifts. Despite the growth, the Parkers want to build their brand in Buffalo, too. They get their shipping and packaging boxes from Lancaster and Buffalo, with the goal of sourcing all supplies and ingredients from within 50 miles. There are also plans to start an on-site brewery, host “Pie Fridays” and bonfire parties at their pie shop, and to sell pies to Bills and Sabres fans. Someday, Damian dreams aloud, they’ll expand the brewery into an English pub, and the factory will become a kind of farm shop of the future. And yes, there’s even a pie truck in the works—Damian has his eye on a sweet little green number. No tacos are planned. Given Buffalo’s propensity to pooh-pooh itself as a mom-and-pop haven, why does the English Pork Pie Company work here, tucked away on seven acres of brownfield along a bumpy stretch of South Park Avenue? “We love it here,” says Vicky, adding happily that they will close on a house in Hamburg in a matter of weeks. For Damian, the local sourcing saves him money, the business community has been friendly and welcoming, and the logistical advantages of being close to Canada and the Great Lake trucking routes, are far too good to pass up. “We’re not going anywhere,” he says firmly as more hopeful pie-eaters wander in. This isn’t entirely true, of course. The Parkers’ ambitious little company is definitely going somewhere, and fast.
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