Update: Since the time this story was published, Spectrum News 1 has learned the bakery has now closed.
Amherst, Ohio — Mama Jo Homestyle Pies has been making delicious pies and other baked good for 26 years —and they are committed to making pies during these difficult times.
- 36 types of pies
- 26 years in business
- Bakes for more than 100 businesses
The Amherst pie shop is taking precautions for people entering their store.
“So, we’ve started pre-boxing all our pies in advance. We normally let them sit on the shelves, so we started doing that to eliminate a point of contact. We’ve also put a queue line to help promote social distancing, we’ve installed a hand sanitizer for our customers to use, we’ve also sanitized highly-touched surfaces so door handles, counters, anything that customers touch a lot, as well as our employees, we are wiping those down every hour with hand sanitizer,” said Jenna Rabosyuk, president of Mama Jo Pies
Even though people have been staying home to avoid crowds, the pie shop still has a steady flow of people looking to relieve stress by eating their favorite pies.
“We’ve remained steady. Pies are a great comfort food and people are just coming out and buying,” said Rabosyuk.
Customers buying pies were happy that Mama Jo’s is staying open.
“I think it’s great because I think people need comfort, familiarity” said Jessica of Lorain.
“I think people still want pies, Easter is coming up, I mean, I don’t think it’s hurting anyone to have it open” said Stephanie, of Lorain.
Mama Jo makes more than 30 different types of pies — from apple to strawberry rhubarb. They also make pies for restaurants and other businesses so the coronavirus health crisis has affected their business.
“We serve well over 100 wholesale accounts, including restaurants, convenient stores, Heinen’s, fine food stores, Drug Marts, Giant Eagle, so a lot of the restaurants are now doing carryout, so they’ve stop taking pie orders, so that kinda affected our business,” said Rabosyuk. “We did have to lay off a few people in the back area, but we are still remaining strong retail wholesale-wise, just supplying the grocery stores.”
Mama Jo makes anywhere from 300 to 3000 pies a day, and with Easter just a few weeks away, the bakery expects business to pick up.