Newsday, Apr 27, 2005

New York Times article

THE NEW NEW YORKERS, Kiwi savors a taste of success

A transplant from New Zealand strikes it rich by introducing America to a delicacy from his native land;

Peter Simunovich, Newsday, Long Island, N.Y., Apr 27, 2005. pg. A.28

Abstract (Document Summary)
The company has two full time staffers and sells hundreds of 5- inch, oval-shaped, Australian-style meat pies, 5-inch sausage rolls and 2-inch cocktail meat pies each week to bars in Manhattan and Brooklyn. They have become popular treats at the Australian and New Zealand consulates, among other places.

[Gareth Hughes]' first creation was a steak pie, his signature pie. He now has 32 kinds of pies, including steak and vegetables, steak and kidney, steak and curry, steak and cheese, Thai chicken, chicken and mushrooms, smoked fish and sweet potatoes, shepherd's pie, curry vegetarian, and bacon, egg and cheese. Each pie costs $2.75.

"Irish pies have more sauce and gravy and need a plate, but Gareth's are perfect for watching games in the bar," said [Kieron Slattery], whose favorite is the signature meat pie. "You can eat his pies out of your hand and there is no mess."

Full Text (Copyright Newsday Inc., 2005)
Gareth Hughes was visiting his hometown of Auckland, New Zealand, eating his favorite snack - a steak and mushroom pie - when he decided that something he enjoyed so much could be shared with others for a profit.

Hughes approached the owner of a local pie shop and asked to be taught how to make the meat-filled pastries that are widely popular in Australia and New Zealand.

"He told me he wouldn't give me his recipes but would teach me how to assemble a pie, and if I bought him a bottle of bourbon, I could come by the next day," recalled Hughes, now 37.

That was in late 2002. Today, Hughes, of Brooklyn and a single father of a 22-month-old son, has a wholesale meat pie company of his own in New York.

The company has two full time staffers and sells hundreds of 5- inch, oval-shaped, Australian-style meat pies, 5-inch sausage rolls and 2-inch cocktail meat pies each week to bars in Manhattan and Brooklyn. They have become popular treats at the Australian and New Zealand consulates, among other places.

"I was looking for something uniquely Australian or New Zealand," Hughes said of his business.

The meat is cooked, the pastry baked and the pies assembled on site at Chelsea Market in Manhattan. Part-time staff then deliver the pies by bicycle or subway.

Hughes says he and his business partner, Gary Sleppy, a baker in Sacramento, Calif. and two other investors, his mother in Brisbane, Australia, and a friend from Auckland, are ready to introduce their pies to a broader audience.

They plan to have a full production plant in Brooklyn next year and a kitchen in Sacramento by the end of summer. They then hope to expand their business to the rest of the boroughs - Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx - as well as other major cities, such as Chicago, Boston and San Francisco.

"It is perfect bar food or for anywhere," Hughes said. "There is no clean up.

"The best way to eat a pie is out of a paper bag," he added.

Hughes, who previously dabbled in jobs ranging from bartending to driving a taxi, has come a long way since his humble beginnings in the pie business in early November 2003. Due to a lack of funds at that time, he signed a lease with a caterer to share the rent on a 150-square-foot kitchen in lower Manhattan that had a baker's oven.

Hughes' first creation was a steak pie, his signature pie. He now has 32 kinds of pies, including steak and vegetables, steak and kidney, steak and curry, steak and cheese, Thai chicken, chicken and mushrooms, smoked fish and sweet potatoes, shepherd's pie, curry vegetarian, and bacon, egg and cheese. Each pie costs $2.75.

"Gareth's pies add a touch of Australia," said Bob Witynski, the Australian Deputy Consul General in New York, which orders the pies for special functions.

"The pies are always well received at our functions and are gone in seconds," Witynski said.

Nevada Smith, a sports bar on the Lower East Side, orders up to 100 pies a week from Hughes, depending on the number of customers who show up to watch broadcasts of European soccer games.

Kieron Slattery, who immigrated to New York from Dublin, Ireland, nine years ago and has been a bartender at Nevada Smith's for the past three years, not only vouches for the popularity of the meat pies among customers but is also a fan of the pastries, himself.

"Irish pies have more sauce and gravy and need a plate, but Gareth's are perfect for watching games in the bar," said Slattery, whose favorite is the signature meat pie. "You can eat his pies out of your hand and there is no mess."

Photo/Robert Mecea
Gareth Hughes just loves meat pies, and now that he's making them here, so do Americans.