“We use the sold-out sign almost every week at the Fried Pieper. It’s crazy. I didn’t grow up cooking or making pies. This happened because I went through postpartum depression with my son, Lincoln. I had a C-section, and he was in the NICU for the first twelve days. We didn’t experience that movie moment where mom meets her baby and bonds. He was just two weeks old, but I felt like he hated me. That was crazy. My mom told me I had to figure something out to get back to who I was. 

I started baking from scratch using recipes I found online. I listened to music while making potstickers, cookies, brownies, and bread pudding. Focusing on something else and then ending up with food that I made helped me cope with what I was dealing with. 

My sister brought home a fried peach pie from an Amish community in Tennessee. I ate it and immediately bought everything to make one. It took me a few tries to figure out the crust, researching what shortening does and what ratios work.

My dad tried my pies. He’s a man of few words but said, ‘You need to sell these.’ I posted the pies on Facebook–my first order was for three dozen. It’s been a blur ever since. I started working on a business without a clue of what I’m doing. I didn’t graduate from college. Didn’t know anything except I love these pies. I started out selling pies at a gas station. They went so fast; I couldn’t believe it. I told my husband I was supposed to do this, but I didn’t know what it would look like. 

I grew up in Lucedale; so opening the Fried Pieper here feels good. We sell out and start over. I’m still afraid every week that people will get tired of our pies, but I know our pies are good. I have eight employees, and we make 100 sweet fillings from scratch. We also have savory pies such as meatloaf and mashed potatoes. An employee wanted to make shredded beef and cheddar, so we figured it out.

We prep fillings because they take time–we don’t use anything from cans. We have lemon curd this week with 120 eggs to be separated and 14 more to be added. Then we slowly cook the curd. That’s just for one filling. We peel, chop, and cook about twenty pounds of apples a week. This week, we also have butter pecan cheesecake and pumpkin s’more. That’s a baked pumpkin cheesecake topped with marshmallows and chocolate ganache. Caramelizing white chocolate is the most time-consuming. We get high-quality white chocolate, cook it at 200 degrees, then stir every 15 minutes for four hours.  We also make our cheesecakes. 

Monday and Tuesday are assembly days: roll the crust, fill it, place it on pans, and slide it in the freezer. We fry them in our four deep fryers on Thursday and Friday. Six at a time. 3 1/2 minutes each. Then we move them to the table to individually dip and decorate them by hand.

Our shop is 513 square feet, and I love every inch of it. I genuinely care about my customers and employees. What’s going on in your life? What can I do to help you while you’re with me? Letting people know they matter is the most important thing we do here. 

When I get up in the morning, I’m glad I’m still here and that my mom encouraged me to start doing something. The tattoo on my arm is ‘I love you six.’ When I tell Link I love him, too. He says, ‘I love you six.’ He’s three, and I don’t want to forget this. I can’t  imagine a time when  I thought that child hated me. 

This business is a direct result of what I’ve gone through, because I never want anyone else to feel that way. But I wish I would’ve known sooner that it would get better. I’m learning to tell the voices to hush. I can’t control my first thought, but I can control the thoughts after. 

I sleep good at night knowing that I’m giving my best. Frying pies saved my life three years ago. I believe in what we do. I believe in these pies.”

Kaytelin