ST PAUL, Minnesota — On Wednesday morning, Rachel Anderson had already been working for nearly 24 hours.
The day before Thanksgiving Anderson and her team had spent the past three days preparing close to 1,100 pies.
"If we're not busy on Thanksgiving, we're in trouble," said Yojiro Moro, Anderson's husband.
Vikings and Goddesses Pie Company launched in 2019.
"When people kind of ask what is our signature flavor, what's our most well-known thing that we make, it's really just... our pie crust is the foundation for what we do," Anderson said.
The bakery uses locally sourced ingredients. For the crust, they use Baker's Field Flour and Hope Creamery butter.
The couple started off by doing farmer's markets and pie pop-ups. At the time, Anderson was a pastry chef for Octo Fishbar in Lowertown and Moro was working at Spoon and Stable.
"When the pandemic hit, we lost our jobs essentially. My husband went down to part-time, and I lost my job, and three of my employees that are here with me now worked for me at that last restaurant. When I knew they had lost their jobs, we decided to pivot the business from just doing pies," Anderson recalled.
They added home deliveries, pickups, wholesale and frozen products.
"We just tried to throw things at the wall to try and get money in the door for people who didn't necessarily have social safety nets that they could rely upon that a lot of people did," Anderson said.
The couple now has a team of nine full-time employees; many of them have been with the bakery for three years.
Anderson said they offer paid family leave and flexible schedules, recognizing the challenges that women can face in the industry.
The name Vikings & Goddesses Pie Company was inspired by a quote from pastry chef Gina DePalma in The New York Times.
"Female pastry chefs have learned the bittersweet truth – the glowing accolades and adoring headlines don't land on us very often. Relying on them for a sense of pride and accomplishment or using their frequency to measure our worth in the industry is nonsense. We don't need to be told we're the gods or goddesses of the kitchen, because we are the Vikings."
The business is getting ready to re-launch its frozen product line. Anderson said they did not want to use plastic so worked with a California company to come up with 100% compostable packaging.
"We are going to be one of the first ones to have frozen compostable packaging in the country," she said.
Meanwhile, Vikings & Goddesses is also celebrating the opening of its pickup window. While the team has been baking out of 2036 Marshall Ave. since October 2020, they did not have much of a retail presence. Now, customers can stop by the window for everything from croissants to hand pies on Thursday, Friday and Sunday from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.
The window was made possible thanks to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture AGRI Value-Added Grant Program.
There were some setbacks to the more than year-long process. Anderson said they ran into hurdles, including their contractor ordering the incorrect pickup window. Then in late October, a car accident took out their delivery van. They've been using a U-Haul truck to deliver orders for Thanksgiving.
"We've had a bit of a rough year but it's finally culminated in the pickup window," Anderson said.
Moro, who was running the pickup window Wednesday, said, "Don't get me wrong, it's difficult. I hate the fact that I don't get enough sleep but the pros definitely outweigh the cons."
Vikings & Goddesses Pie Company offers pick-up and delivery for preorders. You can also find their products at local spots including coffee shops Five Watt Coffee, Backstory Coffee Roasters and SK Coffee, along with Manny's Steakhouse and Pittsburgh Blue Steakhouse. They also have a stall at the Mill City Farmers Market on Saturdays.
Vikings & Goddesses Pie Company
2036 Marshall Ave.
Saint Paul, MN
Open Thursday, Friday and Sunday from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Know a local business we should feature for our Behind the Business segment? Email Heidi Wigdahl at hwigdahl@kare11.com.
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