The History of Square Pie
Square Pie started properly in summer 2001. For years previously, Martin had dreamt of making great pies and, after being sacked from his job, he was drowning his sorrows and discussing his pie idea with a mate when the name square pie popped into his head. Not a man with a long-term plan, this seemed a great name - so Martin re-mortgaged his flat, found a pie chef who could turn his dreams into reality and then set about learning how to make pies.
After a while he found out that, like most cooking, making a great pie is not rocket science. It's just about using wonderful fresh ingredients and having chefs who know what they're doing and care. This is where the first of many catch phrases was born – 'we don't cut corners' - and we've maintained this philosophy ever since.
We soon realised it was easier making a great pie than selling them, so almost went under a few times. Luckily we found a great little shop in Spitalfields Market in November 2001. Mick, Toby and Martin built the shop – the tiles are still up today – and opened the doors on 26 November. We sold seven pies that day, and were so unprepared we had to nip to the local newsagent to buy cans when people wanted a drink.
Things moved on quickly, though, and we started selling more and more pies, soon realising that lots of people were also on the hunt for a great pie. We started supplying fine bars like The Social and The Lock Tavern in London, and did our first Glastonbury. Here's one of our first customers - who it turned out hadn't eaten meat for 20 years. He now comes back every Glastonbury for a Steak & Guinness pie.
The five years since then have gone by very quickly, and what we've learnt is pretty simple; that most people love a great pie. We've now got pie shops in Canary Wharf and Westfield White City. Plus, we also supply the likes of Lord's Cricket ground and Twickenham Rugby ground, amongst others. We've had three pie babies born to Square Pie people and one pie covers band: The Steak and Cheeses.
We've made over 116 different types of pies in the last five years - which we reckon is a world record, and are trying to persuade The Guinness Book of Records that it is as well. A few of favourites from over the years would have to be the Senegalese Chicken Yasser from Pie World Cup 2002, the Oxtail Pie from November 2003 and the Humble Pie of kangaroo and Aussie merlot for those downcast Aussies after the Rugby World Cup. Apologies to all our Aussie fans, but we don't win these things that often, and have only got a few more months to enjoy being world champs...
Here's a few of the main pie shakers over the years:
We're always trying to develop new things so we'd love to hear any ideas you have. We have a few new things planned, watch this space for details.
We've also just had our fifth anniversary party at The Social - click here for photos, including a legendary performance by our in-house band The Steak and Cheeses. Here's to the next five years...
Love your pie