Q & A – Spotlight on The Pie Hole LA

Mmm, pie. Who doesn't love pie? We're still hearing rave reviews about the pie at our Social Media Horror Stories: When Communities Attack event last Tuesday. The sponsor was The Pie Hole LA, located in the Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles.The Pie Hole LA has an awesome selection of sweet and savory pies that changes seasonally, as well as killer coffee drinks. Owners Shawn and Matty were happy to sponsor our event. We thank them for the donation of their yummy Apple, Pumpkin and Chocolate Crostata!We had a chance to ask Sean and Matty questions about how The Pie Hole LA got started, the success of their first year and what's ahead for them. Read on below.1) Why pie? What's the story behind The Pie Hole?Comfort food done well served by people who love what they do. Matty and his mom dreamed of opening a pie shop one day and the timing was perfect for us to take the leap. We wanted to give a proper home to the quintessential American food: pie and coffee.2) Why did you choose DTLA Arts District for The Pie Hole?We looked in neighborhoods with a well developed sense of community because we believed a pie shop needs soul supported by its neighbors. The Arts District is a historic neighborhood that is growing, and we wanted to be part of it. We are surrounded by great people and organizations.

3) You celebrated your one-year anniversary last month. What are some stories you can share from your first year? Top flavors. Surprises. Flavor failures. Fanbase/top customers.The Mexican Chocolate continues to be a fan favorite. Since we are a seasonal bakery we can't have everyone favorite all the time, but the awesome thing is we still sell out nearly every day, so you could say everything is popular. I don't think we have had any flops, our fanbase is rabid and loves to try it all! We didn't think people would eat pie more than once per week, but our regulars put that theory to rest immediately after opening. Since the menu frequently changes there is always something to look forward to.

4) Have celebrities or famous people visited The Pie Hole?That's the cool thing about The Arts District, famous people come and go without much attention. Our favorite celebrities are Elijah Wood, whom we are in love with, and Teri Hatcher who brings her daughters in all the time and is super cool.5) Have you shown off your awesome pies on the Food Network or other TV Show?We have been on Unique Eats on The Cooking Channel and have been featured on local news, iTV in England, and all over the internet.6) Where do you find your awesome ingredients? Do you use local vendors? We use a revolving list of vendors from Southern California and local farms. Sometimes it's farmers markets, other times it is through a larger purveyor who finds great local stuff just for us.7) Tell us about your new Farmers Market events? Summerland Produce is a local company that sources organic and local produce, and curates them into produce boxes delivered to your door. Our staff has been getting boxes from them for a long time and we have build a great relationship with them. It's hard to get good produce downtown, so as a service to our neighbors we launched the weekly farmers market with Summerland, and the Arts District has responded amazingly.8) Do you plan on opening new locations?We would love to! It's just our first year so we are still focusing on doing everything well and learning from our endeavour. We have found that our concept of awesome sweet and savory pie with killer coffee is a winning combination, so we think that will work in other neighborhoods too. Pie is love, and we want to bring that love to as many people as possible.