Woah! I Got Noticed on Social Media! But It Wasn’t So Rosy :(
My life is generally pretty calm when it comes to public attention. I don’t like to seek out attention, but when I do, I do it with a good amount (perhaps too much?) of caution and trepidation. And I know, I know, the huge banner in front of my home about my pop-ups are a huge call for attention. But when I was for the first time the subject of a social media chain completely without my involvement, I was taken by surprise, and the incident was definitely an interesting and growing experience, and it put me through a small emotional rollercoaster. But it wasn’t a big scary rollercoaster, it was more like Space Mountain of Disneyland. It had its ups and downs, but it wasn’t too intense; it was the perfect entry-level rollercoaster for a roller-coaster hater like me, and it managed to put a smile on my face at the end. Plus, I expect this to be the first of many more rollercoasters to come, rollercoasters that will be way more intense.
HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED
I have almost never posted about my pies on Facebook. So when I received an order about an hour before my pop-up start this past Saturday and the customer said they heard about me through Facebook, I was intrigued. I asked them to clarify, and they said they saw a post about my pies through El Cerrito Block Party. Being a bit slow at times, I thought, “Oh! Her neighborhood block created a Facebook block party event and someone generously posted about my pies! How AMAZING!!” So I didn’t think much of it, and went on preparing for the pop-up.
About an hour later, I get another email from a customer and good friend saying people on Facebook are talking about my pies and it might be worth considering posting on it. Then…as the pop-up starts and progresses, I get at least two others knocking on my door asking to buy pie, and that they heard about me through Facebook. Now, I’m here thinking, “Woah, this Facebook thing is bigger than I thought! And whoever posted about me, they’re so kind!”
This past pop-up was especially successful (perhaps because of the Facebook post?), I sold out early. So I finally took a moment to check this Facebook situation out, and to let folks know I was sold out. In doing so, I learned “El Cerrito Block Party” is actually a large group of El Cerrito neighbors that post about all things El Cerrito! I was pretty stoked to have gotten noticed on that. In a haste, as I needed to pack up to go off to my next sale, I tried posting on the event to say I was sold out, so no more would come only to be disappointed. Unfortunately, I needed to fill out a form and wait for permission to join the group, and I certainly did not have time to wait. In fact, I was in such a hurry, I didn’t even have time to read the comments. All I saw was the post itself asking what this “pie thing across ec plaza” was about. I chuckled a little, and thought, I totally get it. My sign is pretty vague, and quite odd looking, though I will say, my website is listed, and I’d like to think my website presents enough information for folks to understand what I am doing. But I also assumed given the boost in customers that day, the comments were positive!
Anyhow, I asked the first Facebook customer to please let the group know I am sold out, lest others come only to have to leave empty handed, and I set it aside to revisit in the evening. When I finally had a free moment later that night, I sat down and excitedly took a look at the post’s comments. To my surprise, the comments weren’t exactly positive…at least not a handful of them.
Now that I’ve had three days to digest and think about what happened, my emotions have had some time to settle. But I won’t lie, reading the comments was initially a big sting. I am speaking namely of the comments about the pricing of my pies. Looking back, I think their comments come from a place of curiosity, from misunderstanding, and from a lack of understanding. Also, I get that home-style, artisanal pies aren’t worth the cost to many, that it’s not something they want to spend their money on. I get it! I’m the same with makeup! I also see that their candid comments helped me recognize shortcomings in my website wording, which I hope I have since fixed.
And while I’d like to be able to say hi to the neighbors in the post firsthand on the thread, just to introduce myself and remain less of a mystery, I am still waiting, two full days later, to be accepted into the group. I’d like to think it is because the administrators do not check it everyday, but it certainly feels odd being in a situation where I have come to see that I am being talked about, and I think the group also knows I see what they have said, but I can’t say anything in response! It’s a very odd feeling.
SO NOW WHAT?
After reading the comments, I fluctuated from wanting to just remain unseen to the group, to wanting to post a cordial but pointed response to the group, to wanting to just let it die away, to then wanting to say something clever and biting about my pricing, to ultimately not wanting to let this learning opportunity for me and for the group to pass us all by. Hence, I am here writing a blog post.
My learning was: don’t take things so personally; take all feedback, whether gracious or not, for what it has to offer and make the improvements accordingly; and turn these acerbic moments into a learning opportunity.
Now, information that I would like to offer to all those who feel my pies are overpriced:
The restaurant and food service industry falls in a tough bind. We are caught in between wanting to pay farmers and producers a fair price, a price they deserve to keep their businesses sustainable and thriving and to pay their workers humanely, while we are also constantly pressured to lower our prices. What manifests is an industry that pays a national annual average salary of $24,493 according to ZipRecruiter; depends heavily on tips from customers to make a living wage, which inevitably and directly creates environments rampant with sexual harassment and objectification of wait staff; almost never provides paid vacation days and health insurance is considered a luxury; and employs a large number of undocumented workers who are not only forced to work long hours with little protection, but are also treated as dispensable, replaceable and frankly, subhuman. This pressure for lowering food prices also translates into buying cheaper ingredients, cutting corners in the preparation where they can (every restaurant I have worked at is guilty of not washing all of their produce), and neglecting safety measures and precautions in workplaces.
These issues aside, since I fortunately am not entangled in most of the above issues, being a small, one-person operation, bringing the conversation back to my pies — my pies cost $28 for a whole pie, which serves 4-6 generous slices. Indeed, compared to larger chain stores like Safeway, Nations, Costco, etc…my pies are relatively expensive. After all, they have mass volume and machinery to bring their costs down.
And indeed, I fully recognize my pies are inaccessible to poorer folks, and for now, I would like to say that I will not turn away those who come seeking pie but cannot afford it, and that down the road, I would like to experiment with models that can sustainably allow A Pie in the Sky to serve pie to everyone across the entire economic spectrum.
However, for those who can afford $28 for a pie, but still feel it is overpriced, I would like to shed some light into my process, which may reveal that I am actually guilty of cheapening myself, my skills, my time, my labor, and what goes into the pies, to be able to provide them at $28. At this point, I feel I have no choice but to cheat myself, get my foot into the game of capitalism to even have a seat at the table, and only once I have a seat at the table, can I start to lay down some groundwork for change.
First, the time. A single pie takes a minimum of one full day to make. Why? Because I need to first make the dough, let it chill for two hours, then roll out the dough, then chill it again for an hour. Then I make the filling, and if it’s a fruit filling, I let it macerate (essentially marinate with the sugars and spices) for at least two hours, though in actuality I macerate overnight, and then proceed to fill and shape the pie, bake for an hour, then let it chill at room temperature for three hours so it will not sweat when put into its box.
Mind you, this does not include the time to go buy the ingredients, the time to develop the pie recipes, the time to plan ingredient amounts, the time to clean up afterward and sanitize the kitchen, nor any of the administrative tasks, etc…
Second, the cost of ingredients. Sadly, I am not even fully organic, nor do I buy fully from the farmers’ market. And even so, I am looking at $6-10 in the cost of ingredients and packaging for each pie, depending on the filling type. And this does not even factor in the cost of utilities, gas for my car, nor rent.
So, let’s do some math. 10% of each pie goes to paying the County sales tax. $28-2.80 = $25.20. Let’s lowball and say cost of ingredients and packaging is $6.00. So $25.20 - $6 = $19.20. Again, lowball estimate, let’s say cost of utilities, gas, and rent for each pie is $1.00. So $19.20-$1 = $18.20.
Luckily, since I have an incredibly loyal and dedicated customer base and can enjoy the benefits of small-scale mass production, it is safe for me to say that each pie takes an average of 1.5 hours to make. This includes JUST the time to make and sell the pies.
So, in essence, I am earning $18.20 divided by 1.5 hours, or $12.13 per hour in the Bay Area, California. And that does not include the time it takes me to research, test, develop, and otherwise hone the recipes; the time to maintain my website and handle the administrative tasks; the time to educate myself on the inequities of the food system so that I can be a part of positive change; nor the time to then go on to educate others such as through my blog posts in the hopes to start laying the groundwork to then one day be able to be fully organic and to have a humanely paid staff and not be met with a brick wall, etc…
On top of that, my pies are a result of three dedicated years of practicing, of attending culinary school while also working (at one point working two jobs), of waking up at 4am five days a week to go to my bakery jobs. All the while I have faced some of the most tumultuous emotional hardships during my time since entering the food industry, one instance being I was harassed at work where one co-worker decided it would be fun to video tape me without my knowledge or permission and proceed to watch the videos with other coworkers behind my back.
All in all, the food industry is one of the gnarliest ones to work in, and yet I fully acknowledge my involvement is entirely MY CHOICE. I grew up with a great education, I have worked in a number of other sectors, I could be earning more money, but at the end of the day, food and the desire to create a better community with food is my passion. And what keeps me at it? It’s the power of food to bring people together, to communicate love, and to create instantaneous smiles. Also, my faith in humanity to push for a better food system, and my desire to be a part of that change. And lastly, the people whom I have met through the journey who have given me a good dose of humanity, compassion, support, and love that fills my heart and keeps me thriving.
So after sharing all of this, I hope that I can effect a small change in you, and that is simply that you start to put some thought into where your food comes from, how it came into existence, who was needed in the production of your food, what might their lives be like, what things are being put into your food that may be allowing it to be as cheap as it is. You can do this with all foods, from the $8.00 14-inch pumpkin from Costco, to yes, indeed, my $28.00 8-inch pie. And if it turns out that it is actually quite hard to figure out where your food comes from, then maybe start by asking why that is. Why is so much of our food system hidden from our view?
I hope that by starting to ask these questions, we can start to examine the food system more closely and bring forward its injustices, contradictions, and in frank words its cruelty and dehumanization. Isn’t it ironic that something that is so essential to our survival is still today cheated of the respect, compensation, and resources that it deserves?
And I will also say that I do not point the finger of blame at anyone directly, but instead, that our system is set up in a way that pins those lower in the economic tier against one another and that our food system is deliberately built to cheapen our food, which comes at the price of cheapening human labor and human lives.
Being a pretty gloomy post, I want to end this on two positive notes:
I want to acknowledge the number of comments on the Facebook chain in support of me. To those individuals, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. I cannot achieve my dream and vision on my own, and I will need folks like you to help me progress forward. And truly, you are the fuel that keeps me going.
I want to thank the individuals who wrote those comments that stung, because it presented an opportunity not only for me to learn, but also to put something out into the world that I hope will help others learn as well. All in all, I feel your comments come from a place of mainstream misunderstandings, misunderstandings that I am personally guilty of and continue to work on (my scrappy parents taught be a good dose of frugality as well). I hope my words here reach you and that you take a moment to consider what I have shared. I am not here to convince you to buy my pies, I am here to shed some light on how challenging it is to be in the food industry.
And with that, I will sign off and get cracking on sending out my weekly announcement to my small, yet dedicated pie family. And then start to hand peel, core, and slice 22 pounds of organic, California-grown quince, that will then be cooked at a low simmer for two hours until it turns a bright red and fills my home with an aroma that can only be described as rosy apples. I am very excited for this week’s pies!!