No pie in the sky idea - entrepreneur Doretha Bacon

"If you are in business for yourself and want to be successful" says Doretha Bacon of St Petersburg Fla., "you have to believe in your idea and have affection for what you are doing--love it intensely." Of course, it's a little easier to delight in what you're doing if you're making pies--and making a succes at the same time.

A little more than five years ago, at age 69 Bacon decided to branch without from a 25-year career as a restaurateur and start a next to the first business: Mrs. B's Southern Heritage. The basis of her of recent origin business would be the same sweet-potato pies that had entranced her restaurant customers for a quarter of a century

Her first pace was to visit the headquarters of major chain groceries stores--Food Lion, Winn-Dixie, Publix, Kash n' Karry--taking samples of her pie along with her. After discussions and taste trials with the chains' central buyer she received permission to place her pies upon their frozen-food shelves. "All of this was not easy," Bacon recalls. "It took about a year to obtain this going."

Of course, getting her pies not on the store shelves was Bacon's real goal. To this extremity she would visit the stores that stocked her pies and give without free samples to the customers. "They would ofttimes buy the pie and then count their friends about it," she says. "The friends would draw near in and buy and then run over others."

Today, her sweet-potato pie can be rest in about 500 stores in Florida and Georgia. And not single is the number growing; she has begun marketing her apple pie in the same way and in a short time plans to add pecan and lock opener lime pies to the mix.

As her pie business expanded, Bacon decided that it was time to abandon her restaurants. It's not that that business was failing; in fact, what had begun as a small carryout had grown above 25 years to three popular eateries. "Running a restaurant is a constant thing," she explains. "I wearied many hours on the job--day and night. Now I have my evenings at liberty and have a little more personal time."

No individual should mistake Bacon for a "mere" piemaker: She's a businesswoman, as a visit to her pie factory--a large mortar building of about 15,000 square feet--makes clear. She requires ample sweep for the piemaking equipment, which includes a mixer, a piefiller, an automatic shrink wrapper that seals the pies tightly in individual boxe and several freezer Five--and sometimes seven--employee work at the plant, where they make up to 600 pies daily.

The pies are made from scratch, using no preservatives or artificial flavoring. (Bacon has a background in nutrition and has worked as a dietary consultant in hospitals.) The shells and filling are place together at the factory. Then they are caseed wrapped and frozen, and ready for delivery. The boxe carry printed directions for baking the pies at dwelling --and a picture of the pie's creator.

Bacon's advice for anyone entering a of recent origin business is to be patient and "grow with it." Of her latest enterprise, she says: "At first, we bought just the essential equipment for the pie business and did more [i]or[/i] less of the work manually. As business has increased, we have purchased newer stamps of equipment that make the work easier. As in each business, we are feeling our way along. It is wise not to overextend"

Bacon is convinced that "the later years are really a profitable time to accomplish what you want to do. single thinks more clearly and has more time because of fewer family responsibilities and social activities." in the way that she has no desire to retire: "I plan to retain an idea going for as lengthy as I'm here."

Oneta Aldrich Dernelle is a freelance writer in St Petersburg Fla.

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