Achatz Handmade Pie sells its fruit and cream pies through its five bakeries in Michigan.

Achatz began baking pies out of her Michigan home and selling them at craft shows and in her husband’s restaurant. She bought Northern Spy apples from a local orchard. Although the Northern Spies are more expensive and have a later bloom, they make the best pies, she explains.

In 1996, Achatz bought the Armada, Mich.-based orchard that supplied her apples. However, as business grew, the 650-tree orchard couldn’t supply enough apples. Although the company’s headquarters still operates out of the farm, it works with other orchards and local producers for its ingredients.

“Our first year in business, we brought in $25,000,” Achatz says. “By year seven, we hit the million-dollar mark.”

Today, Achatz Handmade Pie sells its fruit and cream pies through its five bakeries in Michigan. Its pies are also available throughout the Detroit area, Chicago and Cleveland through retail grocers, such as Whole Foods, Nino Salvaggio and Heinen Fine Foods, as well as several restaurants, including Kruse & Muer in Michigan.

About 40 percent of business is through the storefront and bakeries, while 60 percent is grocery and restaurant sales. The company’s eight trucks deliver the fresh-made pies each morning to about 75 grocery stores and restaurants.

Until last year, Achatz Handmade Pie baked all of its pies in its 6,000-square-foot facility on the apple orchard. However, the company purchased a $1 million, 20,000-square-foot facility down the road to help keep up with growth.

“It’s not as romantic as the apple orchard, but we will be able to bake more efficiently,” Achatz says.

The bakery at the orchard will remain open, and Achatz says it may begin serving coffee, tea and offering seating for lunchtime customers who purchase dessert pies or savory pies, such as chicken potpie.

Part of the pies’ homemade tastes comes from the high-quality ingredients and lack of chemicals. The pies use no hydrogenated oils and they are trans-fat free. “We’ve been trans-fat free for 10 years – before the big trend,” Achatz says.

The company was also ahead of the hype on sustainability. Achatz Handmade Pie was recycling its boxes and pie tins and composting its waste before green was a hot topic. “We do these things naturally – without a big fanfare,” Achatz says.

The pies have always been made with all-natural ingredients. However, because there are no chemicals, the shelf life is short. And, currently, the cream pies are only available in the bakeries because they are too fragile to ship and the trucks aren’t refrigerated.

“We’re working on finding some packaging materials that will provide our cream pies with the support and cushion they need,” Achatz says. “We’re also working on a cream pie that can be frozen and thawed. Right now, we don’t recommend freezing the cream pies, but the fruit pies can be frozen and thawed pretty successfully.”

Achatz Handmade Pie offers fruit-juice sweetened pies as a lower-sugar option and is developing wheat-free piecrusts for customers with allergies. The company is also getting requests for organic pies and is working to meet those needs.

However, the most popular pies remain the classics. Every day, Achatz Handmade Pie prepares about 30 different pies, including apple, peach, strawberry-rhubarb, banana cream, German chocolate and French silk. Seasonal pies, such as pumpkin, are also in high demand.

As a small business, strong relationships with local vendors and businesses helped give Achatz Handmade Pie the foundation to grow. Achatz points to local companies such as Dawn Food Suppliers in Taylor, Mich., that provides Achatz Handmade Pie with its locally made pastry flour, as well as provides additional storage space on occasion, free of charge.

Crooked Creek Farm has supplied Achatz Handmade Pie with its milk since the beginning. The farm is one of the few that does not use antibiotics or bovine growth hormones, and Achatz says she is proud to support that cause.

Capac State Bank has also supported Achatz Handmade Pie by providing credit to help the company expand, particularly Walt Baren, commercial lender, and Vice President Joe Worden. “I give our suppliers a lot of credit,” Achatz says. “They paid attention to us when we were starting out and didn’t brush us off as small potatoes. They were smart enough to know [the potential of] our pies.”

As Achatz Handmade Pie gains national attention – including being featured on the Food Network – its business continues to expand. The company plans to open additional stores in Michigan, Ohio and the Chicago area and is currently looking for the people and local support to make that happen.

“We’ve kind of reached our capacity with the locations we have now,” Achatz says. “Now, we’re hoping to bring people to our team who have franchise experience. All of this great success, to me, means that we must be doing things right.”