Georgie Pie - The "Georgie Pie"

The "Georgie Pie"

Large pies at Georgie Pie came in a range of traditional (mince n' cheese/steak n' kidney) and exotic (Chinese/Mexican/Italian) flavours. The pastry was distinctively solid and free of flakes to avoid spills and mess. These large pies were round, encased in paper sleeves and sold in small, unique boxes. The sleeve allowed the pie to be eaten without being directly touched with the hand. Small pies, which had a distinctive square shape, were sold in bags. Fruit pies had a smaller round shape.

A state-of-the-art Georgie Pie factory was located in Manukau City, Auckland. This automated factory replaced the original one, which operated out of Favona Road (behind Progressive Enterprises Head Office). The new facility was designed to support the continued local and international expansion of the brand. It was capable of producing more than 6,000 pies per hour. The pies were snap frozen (in a spiral freezer) in a raw state and distributed to stores, where they were freshly baked using impinger (conveyor) ovens. Upon its opening, the factory was the second largest investment for Progressive Enterprises.

Overhead costs of the new factory could only be offset by increasing production via the opening of more outlets and by increasing supply to the supermarket chains (Foodtown & Countdown). A CEO at Progressive decided not to continue with planned expansion, based on his view that pies were unhealthy and demand for them would diminish. This may have been a key factor in the demise of the brand (see 'Listener' front page article).