Jen Biddle always had a talent for baking pies.
While previously working at Waterloo Records in Austin and baking pies for her co-workers, she was inspired to start her own pie company. After a while, Biddle decided to start a nonprofit, so she sold her pie company for a dollar and turned it into Texas Pie Kitchen in 2006.
Texas Pie Kitchen is a nonprofit bakery in Austin that provides culinary training and job readiness development for low-income people who have barriers to employment. Biddle wants to help these people become self-sufficient and gain employment.
Since Texas Pie Kitchen began training students in 2009, about 40 students have participated in the 10-week program, and 20 have graduated. About 20 students didn’t complete the program for reasons that included gaining employment before graduating, serving time in jail, or being diagnosed with an illness. The program concludes with graduating students receiving their food handler’s safety certification.
“Most of the folks we trained were homeless,” Biddle said. “We trained them and gave them culinary skills.”
However, training people and keeping the organization going has not been an easy task.
Biddle said it is difficult to train people when they are not getting paid, although this year, Texas Pie Kitchen began paying its students $10 per hour.
Furthermore, Biddle said, “it’s really hard to get grants when you don’t have a long history of success.”
Texas Pie Kitchen partners with Foundation Communities, a nonprofit organization that provides affordable homes for families with disabilities. Biddle said partnering with Foundation Communities was natural because the organization provides housing for the previously homeless, a population that Texas Pie Kitchen’s program targets.
Texas Pie Kitchen also partners with Austin Clubhouse, a group that supports people with mental health issues. Additionally, a grant from the city contributes to the kitchen’s funding.
While building a nonprofit may not always be easy, Biddle enjoys support from people who believe in her mission.
Mindy Cohrs, a culinary instructor at Texas Pie Kitchen, can identify with the students’ employment barriers because similar barriers have affected people who are close to her. These barriers can include history of homelessness, disability, mental illness and lack of education.
Being aware of those challenges furthered Cohrs’ desire to help people in need, and her time with Texas Pie Kitchen excites her, especially because she taught her first class this year.
“I love the people that I’m working with. This group of students, they’re eager, and they’re excited to learn,” Cohrs said. “My favorite thing is watching them getting excited when something goes right... and having them grasp what’s going on and realize that they are creating something really special.”
Cohrs has seen her students’ confidence levels increase dramatically. She loves watching students go from not knowing how to roll out pie dough to doing it so often that it becomes second nature. Seeing students’ success fuels her desire to continue teaching and continue watching her first group blossom.
Kerstin Taylor, a Texas Pie Kitchen student, has had a “wonderful time” being part of the program and gaining a new skill set in baking.
“My favorite thing is learning how to make a flaky crust,” Taylor said. “It’s coming to the point where I no longer need the recipe.”
Besides the financial drawbacks, Taylor joined Texas Pie Kitchen because she had free time to learn something she had never done before. She figured learning how to make pies would be important because she “knows pie is a way to my man’s heart.”
Taylor receives disability benefits, but she hopes her time at Texas Pie Kitchen will help bring her to a point where she doesn’t need those benefits. She wants to work at The Driskell and is excited because the hotel has shown interest in hiring Texas Pie Kitchen students.
While Taylor and the other students have made a multitude of pies, everything from cherry pie to key lime pie, Texas Pie Kitchen is currently not selling their pies in stores.
Biddle said her “focus [is] on the training aspect first” while she continues to grow Texas Pie Kitchen.
Although the people of Austin cannot enjoy these handmade pies, the pies have a purpose for the people whose hands make them.
