Sydney Daily Telegraph - April 12, 2005

New York Times article

Aussie meat pies make a hit in the Big Apple

It's a confounding thing but what we Aussies view as the quintessential fast food has never found success in the US, the land that claims to have invented fast food.

But finally the meat pie looks set to replace the apple pie as pie of choice for Americans, and its springboard is the Big Apple.

For just over a year, Gareth Hughes, 37, has been making, marketing, selling and delivering traditional Aussie meat pies across the city's five boroughs.

As well as re-acquainting grateful Aussies, Kiwis and Poms with their favorite footy fare, he's also been winning over the natives.

Mr Hughes, a former New York Nike executive, got the idea when resting in New Zealand after being burnt out from more that an year of counselling victims of the 9/11 disaster.

He liked the pies so much that he determined when he returned to New York he would make and sell them in the toughest market in the world.

Instead of seeking help from the local consul offices, he was able, as a green card holder, to tap into the huge resources of the US Government's Small Business Administration.

"Essentially it taps the resources of retired entrepreneurs who are available whenever you want, for free.

"You can go and talk to them about your ideas and your business plan, and they help refine it."

Initially Mr Hughes operated out of a nightclub that wasn't using its kitchens.

He'd bake through the night, then make deliveries in the morning to a couple of retail outlets and to a growing number of expats who had heard of the pies through word of mouth.

Now the Down Under Bakery has just moved into Chelsea Markets, "by far and away the best showcase and location in Manhattan, in all of New York really," he says.

He also caters for major events such as Australia Day and New Zealand Day parties, and provides bars with pies when huge numbers of Poms congregate to watch major soccer games on cable TV.

The key to his success so far, he says, has been to his unconventional marketing and the product. The pastry, he says, is crucial. Americans seem to only eat sweet pastry, and he imports his margerine from New Zealand to give it a distinctive flavour.

"It's the real pastry, you couldn't get it any more authentic. It's the reason why the pies succeed so well. It's the pastry that proves the authenticity to the Australians and the Kiwis."

- Jenny Dillon, syndicated across News Corp. papers in Australia