Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Dining through the Decades

Part X: A slice of pie history

Sept. 19, 2017 — Let’s face it. Just about everyone has a weakness for pie. If someone sets a slice of pie within reach, it’s as if they’re taunting you with blissful sweetness, and you have no choice but to happily oblige.

Pie is a dessert Schwan’s is more than happy to provide — and we are good at it, too. Through Schwan’s Consumer Brands, we offer some of the best-selling fruit and crème pies through our Mrs. Smith’s® and Edwards® desserts, respectively.

Edwards® desserts

Before Schwan’s acquired Edwards desserts in 2001, the brand was part of The Edwards Baking Company, which was founded in 1950 by namesake Tom Edwards, a small retail bakeshop in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Edwards family delivered a variety of baked goods to local restaurants, schools and hospitals. Because of the success of the dessert business, the Edwards team decided to focus solely on producing pies. During the 1960s, the team introduced frozen pre-baked pies that were sold to retail stores. The success of the Lemon Meringue Pie led the company to expand to other crème pie varieties. In the late 1970s, the brand introduced a line of individually packaged pie slices enabling consumers to indulge in their favorite pie one slice at a time.

Schwan’s purchased Edwards pies in September 2001, and we are committed to providing consumers with convenient, great-tasting frozen desserts made with premium, high-quality ingredients.

We even prepare, bake and crush our own cookies on site to make the freshest cookie crust possible in our delicious whole crème pies and slices.

Today, Edwards desserts are a leader in the U.S. frozen-pie category and the brand isn’t slowing down. Each day we are pushing our innovations to discover new ways of delivering exceptional indulgences for consumers.

Mrs. Smith’s® pies

To complement our Edwards offerings, Schwan’s acquired Mrs. Smith’s pies in 2003.

The Mrs. Smith’s brand story began in 1919, when a young Robert Smith began selling his mother’s (Amanda Smith) pies — slices and whole — at the YMCA snack counter in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Because of the tremendous popularity and demand of the pies, he grew his business by selling them to local restaurants and stores. He delivered the pies in a Dodge coupe in which he had built pie racks.

Eventually, the popularity of pie led to the opening of the first Mrs. Smith’s pie store in 1923, and expansion to grocery stores in the 1950s.

Today, Mrs. Smith’s pies continue the tradition, offering a flaky crust made with a touch of real sweet cream butter, abundant seasonal fruit and signature spices. And, just like homemade pies, our Mrs. Smith’s Original Flaky Crust pies contain:
  • No artificial colors.
  • No artificial sweeteners.
  • No artificial flavors.
  • No artificial trans fats.
  • No high-fructose corn syrup.
Edwards desserts and Mrs. Smith’s pies can be found at local retailers nationwide. To find your local retailer carrying a favorite pie, use the “Where to find tool” at www.EdwardsDesserts.com, or www.MrsSmiths.com.

“Dining through the Decades is a blog series commemorating our company’s 65 years of commitment, quality, growth and service with customers, consumers and employees all across the United States. We invite you to stay tuned throughout the year as we continue to share some of our company’s best stories and highlights of how we got to where we are now.”

To view more Dining through the Decades features, visit:

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