The humble Pie Face Bakery Cafe franchise

The catwalks of Australian Fashion Week may be a world away from the humble meat pie, but not if you’re Pie Face Bakery Cafe franchisors Betty Fong and Wayne Homschek.

In early 2003, the couple behind the Paablo Nevada fashion label decided to treat the audience that attended their fashion parade to their now famous dish.

With their show based on that great Australian tradition of football and starring Channel 7 heroes Roy and HG as commentators, the franchisors-to-be baked the pies to whet the fashionistas’ appetite for the clothing.

Putting to rest the rumour that the fashion set doesn’t eat, the pies were extremely well received. The cogs began to turn and the couple began thinking about the idea of establishing a pie franchise.

“We thought food would be interesting, particularly considering Australians’ love of food. We noticed that no one had created a national brand doing the classic Australian pie, even though there are national brands in other food categories such as pizza and burgers,” Homschek said.

A few short weeks later, over dinner at Hugo’s restaurant in Sydney, the subject of pies once again became the topic of conversation. Fong and Homschek decided it would be a great idea to put faces on the pies as an indication of their flavour: smiley mouth for chicken, an S for steak and V for vegetable.

When the pies were given faces, a one-of-a-kind brand was created, with the logo baked on each pie. The Pie Face franchise brand is young at heart, cheeky and universal. The branding can also be used easily across other products in the franchise.

“The way we have done the face makes it a universal brand that we believe could work well in Europe and Japan,” Homschek said.

The first Pie Face franchise opened in Bondi Junction in July 2003. The couple have since opened a further eight stores around Sydney, with plans to open more fast food franchises across Australia and then the rest of the world.

Interior designer Fong and former investment banker Homschek plan to open at least 50 Pie Face stores within the next five years. The pair decided franchising was the way to go to realise their dream.

“We have been working closely with DC Strategy who has advised us on the franchise model. From day one we designed the concept to be suitable to grow into a national chain, possibly through franchising. We have worked out all the bugs and now we think it’s time to grow through franchising,” Homschek said.

Specialising in gourmet savoury and sweet pies, the Pie Face franchise caters for all tastes.

“We only use high quality ingredients and have kept our pastry thin and as reduced in fat as possible. Our customers include a lot of mothers and children and couples on their way home on Friday or Saturday night who want something to eat. Many of the women also buy our healthy wraps or mini pies,” Homschek said.

According to Homschek, pies are the third most popular food purchased by Australians, after sandwiches and hot chips. Australians munch on a whopping 260 million pies per year.

Pie Face allows franchisees to focus on selling pies and serving customers, with the ready-to-bake goods being delivered from a central kitchen.

“The baking process is very simple and people can learn to bake our products in an hour,” Homschek said.

Homschek stated merchandising and customer service were crucial to the franchise.

“We want franchisees who are customer-friendly and enjoy serving people. We are also very focused on our merchandising as we have lots of products on display and they have to look good.”

With the humble meat pie sporting a makeover thanks to this duo, Pie Face is set to expand with Vegetable Head, an in-store salad bar.