After operating out of a kitchen space in Eastern Market for the past two years, the owner of Lush Yummies Pie Co. is moving her wholesale-heavy business in a fresh direction.
The Detroit-based pie company is expanding its business model with an eye toward direct-to-consumer sales as it prepares to triple its production capacity with its first brick-and-mortar location, which will be a part of Eastern Market’s food accelerator, according to owner Jennifer Lyle.
The store at 1520 Adelaide will consist of 1,800 square feet of kitchen and production space, along with a 600-square-foot retail section. Wyandotte-based Thomas Roberts Architect LLC is the architect for the store, which will be under a seven-year lease.
The kitchen space is expected to be operational by November, but Lyle is aiming to open the store to the public by the spring.
The new bakery, described by Lyle as a “Dairy Queen on steroids,” calls for an investment of more than $80,000.
As part of its restructured business model, Lush Yummies is shaping up plans to launch a worldwide pie subscription service that would allow customers to receive a box of their favorite pies on a quarterly basis.
The service is set to go live at the end of September, but the payment structure is still being finalized, according to Lyle.
“I wanted to be able to have a reasonable solution to get my pie to as many households as possible, and it just made so much sense to ship,” Lyle said. “Food on your doorstep is the way of the world.”
Lush Yummies, which employs six, currently operates out of a 600-square-foot space in the former Chewy’s Gourmet Kitchen at 2939 Russell St., next to Chase Bank.
As the bakery plans to expand its reach in stores such as Kroger, it is looking to hire kitchen assistants and two people in sales and marketing, according to Lyle. Ultimately, the bakery’s pies will be going into 123 Kroger stores across the company’s Michigan division, she said.
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