A new pie shop is opening in the KC area. Its origins: BBQ competitions
There are four main characters in the Be Happy Pie Co. story.
The first one, Chad Burns, is a barbecue pitmaster who started competing more than 20 years ago. He’d smoke and lather meats for competitions with the Kansas City Barbecue Society, as well as a few others around town.
About a year ago, he set down the sauce bottles and reached for flour and eggs.
“Once I started that, I just started baking all the time,” Chad told The Star on Tuesday, adjusting the menu boards for his new pie shop in the Northland.
His shop is opening Friday at 7506 N. Oak Trafficway in Gladstone on Friday. (Ironically, it’s just a few doors down from a barbecue restaurant: Off the Hook BBQ, which opened last year.)
Inside the light blue space with cherry red tables, the smell of strawberry glaze filled the air. Employees in the kitchen rolled dough and prepped mini pie cups in 5-inch tins.
This all started because Chad and his wife, Angie, decided to take their love for lattice crusts and apple crisps seriously. Once Chad started baking, they knew they were on the right path.
A little internet research led them to find Be Happy Pie Company, an Evansville, Indiana-based pie shop that’s been doing so well in its hometown, it’s starting to franchise.
They then traveled to Indiana to meet the founders, Rick and Jenny Lamble. Enter characters three and four.
“We were sold,” Angie said of the couple. “People you want to be friends with.”
The Lambles started their own culinary journey back in 2015, when Jenny became fatigued at her job. As a school counselor, active shooter training weighed heavy on her heart and mind. She began baking to cope.
She baked with such urgency and frequency, husband Rick began to wonder whether she enjoyed being a counselor at all.
“What do you want?” Rick asked her in exasperation one day.
“I just want to be happy,” Jenny replied, prophetically dropping the name of her company and ushering in a new era.
The solution was Be Happy Pie Company, which started in 2015. Jenny’s pies were such a hit at farmers markets and popups that she opened a storefront.
“It was lines out the door,” Jenny recalled.
To keep up with the demand, she opened a second pie shop in the same city. The franchise idea is a newer one — Be Happy’s third store opened in Kentucky last year. Kansas City will make four locations for the company.
It sells full pies, of course, with about 30 flavors to choose from. The sweet pies ($27 to $35 for a 10-inch, depending on flavor) include loaded chocolate pecan, key lime, coconut cream, apple streusel and lemon crumb.
The savory pies are just as popular, if not more, Jenny said. Those include chicken pot pie and fiesta taco pie.
Everything the bakery offers is completely from scratch. There are no fillers, no preservatives, no frozen dough.
“All ingredients you can pronounce,” Jenny said.
For those wanting a light dessert, Be Happy offers mini pies and cookie pies (two cookies with “the best” fluff sandwiched in between). Plus, Be Happy provides cold brew and drip coffee from an Evansville-based roaster.
Once Be Happy opens, it’ll serve pies from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays, and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays.
Asked if she’s happy now, Jenny quickly replied:
“Oh yeah. It’s been awesome.”