What Douglasville Needs: Pie Lab

Patch Editor John Barker recently asked the question "What Should Go Here?" about in downtown Douglasville. While reading the comments suggesting bookstores, coffee shops and butcher shops, I thought about this story I wrote last spring about Pie Lab, a pie and coffee shop in the rural town of Greensboro, Alabama. This is my short version of the PieLab story, additional stories have appeared in regional and national publications, including the New York Times. 

Pie Lab is a restaurant and bakery located in Greensboro, Alabama, and it’s the embodiment of what happens when youth, idealism and good food come together. Cate Powell, Pie Lab’s Director of Regional and National Sales, spoke with me last week about Pie Lab’s history, its location in Hale County, Alabama, and its place in the world.

When Cate tells the story of Pie Lab, she starts with how she got there. First of all, Cate is an Atlanta girl, with a Masters degree in international affairs from Georgia Tech, a well-traveled young woman who decided to use her business skills to improve communities. When she found out about Pie Lab, she and her parents drove the five hours to Greensboro, sat down at the restaurant, and six slices of pie later, in a “pie coma,” decided she needed to be a part of Pie Lab.

This is the short history of Pie Lab: a group of designers called Project M held a conference in 2008 and examined ways to use their skills to benefit American communities. They sat in a restaurant and contemplated the problems of small towns - access to jobs, education, resources. They all ordered pie, Powell said. And they said to themselves “you know, any problem can be solved with pie.”

The first incarnations of Pie Lab were free pie days, in which the designers gave away pie slices and asked folks what their communities needed. Greensboro became Pie Lab's home because a local nonprofit, HERO (Hale Empowerment and Revitalization Organization), chose to partner with the design group. The original idea for Greensboro was a pop-up shop, which evolved to a full-time bakery and restaurant on Main Street that now counts six employees.


In Powell's words, Hale County is a “pretty rural place.” The 2000 census put the population at just under 18,000 and a median income hovering around $25,000. PieLab's mission to create jobs and that means shipping Pie Lab merchandise such as mugs and t-shirts all over the country. And don't forget those pies - popular flavors such as lemon chess and ginger apple can be shipped across the country, too. Today, Pie Lab represesents “the best of Southern culture," Powell said. "We use fresh, local ingredients, like pecans and peaches in our pies and jellies.” This summer, they will market pickled okra.


I asked Powell what she thought was at the heart of Pie Lab's appeal – the store has had considerable and favorable national press – the New York Times and Southern Living, for example, and was nominated for a James Beard award in restaurant design. “I think it’s the food factor. People are getting closer to slow food, being in the kitchen, making food at home. Using fresh ingredients is the new gourmet. Using real butter, having few ingredients," she said. But what it really comes down to is the magic of a circle of pastry with a sweet or savory filling – “We’re celebrating real American pie.”

Pie Lab's best-selling pies are Lemon Chess, Ginger Apple and Chocolate Walnut Brownie, all of which sound incredible. Cate graciously shared Pie Lab’s Apple Cheddar Pie recipe, and I’ve got to say, it’s a winner. The crust includes vinegar, yielding a tender, flaky crust. This is a hearty pie, and with a hot cup of coffee, just about the best breakfast I can name. I'm planning a field trip real soon to see Pie Lab for myself.

I still haven't made the field trip to PieLab, but I made a wonderful apple cheddar pie from the recipe that Powell shared. When we spoke last year, Powell said that PieLab was interested in expanding into the Atlanta area and I mentioned our downtown area that would be perfect for a pie shop. What do you think of the idea and ideals of PieLab? Would and could our community support a pie shop in downtown Douglasville?