We often hear people say they don’t like certain foods. Like Brussels sprouts. Or blue cheese. But when was the last time you heard somebody say, “I don’t like pie”? Everybody likes pie, right? So, if you have a company that makes pies, and they’re pies everybody likes, you’d think it wouldn’t take long till you’re a household name.

Well, like most things, the pie business isn’t quite as straight-forward as it looks from the outside.

Nicole Eiden, along with her partner Marielle Dupre, launched Windowsill Pies  in New Orleans in 2011. Their pies may be sweet but the pie business, apparently, isn’t. The Windowsill Pies story is an inspirational lesson in navigating the difficult road to small business success.

If you have an idea for a food business and you want to get it out of your kitchen and on to supermarket shelves, Sanjay Kharod is the guy to know. Sanjay is the Executive Director of Edible Enterprises – a food business incubator. 

There’s no doubt that when it comes to food, wherever you live, local is better. If you live in New Orleans, local food is stupendous. Even here, though, there’s a gulf between people who make great local food products, and those of us who like to buy them.

Edible Enterprises is doing a great job of bridging that gap. Windowsill Pies is a leading example of a local food company that’s resourceful, enterprising, and successful.

Photos over lunch at Commander’s Palace by Jill Lafleur.