Tiny Pies Are Big Business in Texas

For Amanda Wadsworth, Tiny Pies stemmed from a simple request from her son. All he wanted was to bring one of his mother’s homemade pies to school for lunch.

“When I explained that it wouldn’t travel well in a lunchbox, he suggested I make a pie that he could eat with his hand,” she recounts. That was when the concept for Tiny Pies, which bills itself as offering “handheld happiness,” was born.

Baking in the kitchen alongside her mother, Kit Seay, was an essential part of Wadsworth’s childhood. Wadsworth’s passion for baking became so strong, in fact, that she quit her full-time job as a realtor to pursue her dream along with her retired mother.

The business, which now has five locations throughout Texas and originally started in Austin, sells individual, serving-sized pies in various sweet and savory flavors using four-generation-old recipes with natural ingredients from local farms. “Every pie that leaves our kitchen is measured with the original standards of appearance and flavor that we set in our first kitchen,” said Wadsworth.

For months, the two played with old family recipes and tested flavor profiles on friends and family. In January 2011, they sold their first pie at a local farmers market. “We brought 65 pies and completely sold out,” said Wadsworth. In just over a year, the pair was featured in O, Oprah Winfrey’s magazine, and the business began to take off.

In 2014, Tiny Pies opened its first brick-and-mortar location on Burnet Road in Austin.

Wadsworth describes Tiny Pies as a “heartfelt labor of love,” intended to bring family traditions to other people’s tables. “We are in the business of creating tiny moments, one pie at a time. There is nothing better than baking up smiles every day,” she said.

Learning how Tiny Pies has impacted her customers has been one of Wadsworth’s favorite things about running the business. One customer shared that Tiny Pies was her first stop and reward after receiving chemo treatments. On Thanksgiving one year, thousands of customers purchased pies to enjoy with family and friends. Even through the pandemic, pie purchases served as something that reminded people of happier times.

Tiny Pies boasts an assortment of flavors, but the Texas Two-Step, a sweet pecan pie, has become a fan favorite. “This pie is the most popular pie during every season,” said Wadsworth. The recipe was passed down by her great-grandmother. As far as savory pies go, chicken pot pie is their most popular.

Other flavors include s’mores, strawberry cream, cherry and blueberry lemon lavender, as well as savory options such as supreme pizza, nacho and bacon. Larger pies, including apple, coconut cream, key lime, peach crumb and chocolate cream, are also available. The company ships nationwide, and there’s more goodness to come, with the two telling Beyondish they plan to continue to expand their business.