Great snack pies don’t just happen. Lots of love and planning go into each and every handmade fried pie at B&G Pies. That’s how it’s always been and that’s how it will always be.
But every story has a start and this is how B&G Pies came about. It’s also why we stick with a process and the ingredients that stand the test of time. As we celebrate our 70th anniversary, sit back and see where it all started!
How B&G Pies Came To Be
A love for sweets came early for G.M. Griffin, a Navy mechanic. He loved handmade pies so much that he spent his free time making handmade fried pies on the back porch of his brother-in-laws house in Radford, VA.
As most southerners do, Griffin shared his snack pies with family and friends, and as his pies grew in popularity, he decided to forge a business partnership with his cousin, Alton Bodenheimer of Winston-Salem, NC.
Together they started B&G Handmade Fried Pies, located on South Marshall Street in Winston-Salem, in 1949.
Going Strong for Nearly 40 Years
Bodenheimer and Griffin held strong to their idea of hand making and crimping each pie throughout the years. And B&G’s employees knew they were an active part of history, with many of the original employees staying on for decades. The process was good, the ingredients were tried and true — and even other North Carolina names like Krispy Kreme recognized B&G as a fierce competitor.
Dedicated employees were known for producing an outstanding 18,000 pies per week and even record numbers of 36,000 per day-all by hand!
A Near Disaster
But in the mid-1980’s, the founders sold the company to investors who tried to automate the process. Moving production to an automated bakery in northeast Forsyth County’s Rural Hall, the company would soon go bankrupt.
It turned out that people didn’t need another factory-produced fried pie; they wanted the traditional handmade pies they grew up with.
Fortunately, the company was purchased and resumed production in the old-fashioned way-by hand. The new owners moved the facility back to Winston-Salem and all was good again.
Local distributors sold the freshly-made pies, and people could even stop by the bakery to see how the pies were made and sample some. The company kept moving forward until 2009 when he sold it to Shannon Wilson.
Shannon is keeping the company alive by following the same handmade process that brought satisfying success for over half a century.
70 Years Later and Still Going Strong
After all these years, the B&G logo still proudly adorns the wax paper wrapper on each carefully rolled and filled handmade pie.
Using all of the original recipes, our delicious handmade fried pies come in five fantastic flavors: Apple, Peach, Lemon, Chocolate & Cherry.
We’ve also recently introduced a new delight called the D-Lish Treat. This no-bake oatmeal, chocolate, peanut butter treat is rich in flavor and is reminiscent of a similar treat that relatives might make. The D-Lish is hand dipped, cooled and then wrapped in a colorful package.
About Our Products: Handmade Pies and Confections
Our Famous B&G snack Pie
- Fully cooked – ready to eat
- Individually packaged – 4 oz size
- Filling made from scratch using original recipes
- Famous and colorful wrapper identifying each flavor
- Attractive merchandising in one dozen display boxes
- All flavors priced the same
- UPC codes unique to each flavor
- Perfect for lunchboxes, on-the-go snacks or a special treats with ice cream
The D-Lish Treat
- Hand dipped chocolate, oatmeal, peanut butter treat
- Individually packaged 3.75 oz size
- Unique recipe from scratch
- Top-quality ingredients including imported cocoa
- Proprietary process that gives consistent quality
- Attractive merchandising in two dozen display boxes
- Multi-name branding on durable polypropylene wrapper
- Perfect for lunchboxes or on-the-go snacks
- Proven sales performance
Whether you remember them from your childhood or you’re looking for a little piece of North Carolina history to taste for the first time, B&G Pies and the D-Lish Treat won’t disappoint! Try them all and pick your favorite today!