Sunday, August 18, 1991 - North Shore News - 25 WV pie co. savoring its success UP TO her elbows in pie pastry, a dusting of flour on her hair, 48-year-old Eileen Hall kneads a batch of the dough that started her off and smiles innocently. She is baffled by the overnight success of her Savary !sland Pie Co. “AIL T know is that f wanted to work for myself,”’ reflects Hall on her decision to set out on her own in 1978, with a Jean resume and no business skills, to discover her potential. “f{ started a landscaping business on Bowen Island,’’ says Hall, ‘‘to pursue my first love — By Mylene Ava Pilutik Contributing Writer gardening.”’ In 1982, with a turn in the economy, her Jandscaping business folded. “‘My world crashed,’’ she remembers. “I had my cabin and my garden. I cleaned house and walked through the woods a lot.”’ “f didn’: know what to do. What was | good at?’’ she asked herself repeatedly. ‘“‘My friends always said I was ‘the best’ cook,”’ Halli explains with a laugh. “So I approached the bakery on Bowen Island and tole them 1 could make pies for them.”” For $4 per hour, Hall baked pies. “It was an opportunity to see just how good my baking was.”’ When people began (to rave about her pies, she packed up her pie plates and started working for the island restaurant, where for $4 NEWS photo Neil Lucente SAVARY ISLAND Pie Co. owner Eileen Hali (left) with Kristina Godin in their newly opened bakery and store in West Vancouver. Europe? Travel? Volkswagen? Call our {purist Delivery Available for pick-up in: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Norway, Vanagon Camper Ste A equipment 4 speedfautomalic, power steenng and muri . upper & lower double beds. 2 burner propane stove L tndge 50 L water AM/FM cassette, sink with faucel. 45 tank with elecinc pump plus more Denmark and ‘21,800 Passat GL Standard equipment 5 speediautomatic, power steenng, locks. vandows and murtors. radio cassette, front wheel drive. aw conditroning $18,375 4 door. slandatd cenpanent 5 speed. power Stevnng tr Steenng, AM/FM cassette tront wheel dry Garry Speranza tf you are interested in our Tourist Delivery Program please contact Garry Speranza | for more infermation 985-0694. per pie, she turned out as many as 20 pies per hour. “Things were going so well. My boss told me he wanted muffins. I'd never made muffins, because I hate muffins. So I experimented with recipes and created a muffin that even I like.” In 1986, Hall spent a season baking at Cypress Bowl ski resort in West Vancouver. When management asked her back for a second year, Hall began thinking about selling her products on a larger scale. She approached several stores including Capers, a West Van- couver restaurant and store, where she was hired as a cook. “IL introduced my products, one by one, First pies and muffins. My soda bread was an instant success,’’ says Hall who was soon making 120 loaves a day on weekends in addition to her pies, cookies, cinnamon ouns and muf- fins. “LT set up a bakery in the base- ment and sold my _ products through the store and restaurant.”* Hall left Capers last year to establish the Savary Island Pie Co. — named afters the island where she spent her childhood summers. Her big break came when her products were accepted into the local Stong’s supermarkets. With this important account estab- lished, Hall secured a small space in West Vancouver. “]> worked non-stop for a month and a half, getting up at five o'clock to make deliveries and baking late into the evening. | had no money to hire a staff. 1 slept in the back of the store a lot."” “[ had always wanted 2 part- ner,”’ explains Hall. *‘When one of my regular customers walked into my store one day and said she wanted to work for me, | was hesitant. It isn*t easy work.”” But Hall has no regrets about hiring Ann Akerly. **She doesn’t have to work for a living. She is very supportive of what fam doing.’’ Akerly says ‘‘the thing that’s wonderful about Eileen is that she works intuitively, without betray- ing her sense of self.”’ “‘What I like about working for myself is that I set the pace. At first, I was terrified of getting ahead of myself,"’ remembers Hall. ‘I wouldn’t take on an ac- count if it was too big for me. Now !ook at me! I'm suc- ceeding.”’ Many of Hall’s employees are women like her, in their 30s and 40s, lacking in skills but loaded with ambition. The Savary Island Pie Co. now has a dozen employees. Hall recently opened a new bakery and store in West Vancouver to ac- commodate her growing business and a staff of over a dozen empioyees. Hall comments, ‘I had to move. There was no room.”’ Savary Island products are also available at Hearts, The Healthy Gourmet and The Tea Cosy on Granville Island, the Dundarave Stong’s, Frogurts, Galliano Mar- ket and at Bean Around The World.