Print | Send to friend | Email update

Kiwi pie man doing well in Big Apple

Feb 13, 2005 8:20 PM

The humble kiwi meat pie is making a strong showing in the big apple, thanks to a New Zealander who decided to take our fare over there.

Last year Gareth Hughes turned over $90,000, but he has his sights set higher than that.

All it takes is a dream, a lot of hard work, some grit, but no gristle.

In New York, if the world eats something, you can usually get it. French, Italian, Japanese, all the wonders of the culinary atlas, often all within a block or two, however Hughes had a bright idea there was one gourmet treat you couldn't have here, not for love, nor money.

"I was sick in New Zealand, and I was eating about four meat pies a day, as you do, and I was trying to think of something that I could do back in New York. And then it hit me; Pies!"

So Hughes who went to America for a job with Nike started the Down-Under Bakery.

This time last year Hughes was selling and making about 400 pies each month and last month - admittedly a good one - he sold 4000 in bars and Irish pubs.

"Gareth's pies go down really well here. The customers like them. We keep getting requests for more and more. They run out actually," says bar manager Ronan Healy.

Business is good enough for him to take on extra staff and to scout a bigger location for the bakery. Currently he's in an ex-after-hours nightlub in the lower east side.

He has come a long way since the 18-hour days.

"Yep eighteen hours a day. I would make pies then curl up and sleep here on the baking area. It was crazy," he says.

But he still fields phones calls, and does those last minute deliveries.

There are about 1000 New Zealanders in New York - hardly enough to to feed this business, but Hughes has a thin end of the wedge strategy.

First he will win kiwis over, then Australians, then ultimately Irish Americans. At last count there were 40 million of them in the US.

"Aboslutely I want an empire. They say here that Fosters is Australian for beer. Well, I want to be American for meat pies."

"I can say that after a life time of eating apple pies, I've converted to the meat pie," says converted pie eater Charley Wilder.

And with more converts each week, he's expecting to quadrule turnover this year.