The proof isn’t always in the pudding. Sometimes it’s in the pie.
Hometown Pie Company has been named as the Coolest Thing Made in Kansas to culminate the second annual contest through the Kansas Manufacturing Council. Owner Wanda Chaffain, a guest on KVOE’s 8:05 am newscast Wednesday, says her phone was busy Tuesday night after the announcement.
Chaffain credits product quality and a strong social media presence for the honor.
The contest started in August and used a bracket-style format for the preliminary rounds, pitting one item against another. Hometown Pie, which is based in New Strawn and is known for made-from-scratch pies, defeated beef jerky from Pat’s Beef Jerky, custom limestone rock signs from Fisher Rocks and a scale model from Scale Structures to reach the final four. Besides Hometown Pie, the finalists were Voltar 2.0 Solar UPS, EPSi Corporation, Frontiersman 30 by Yoder Smokers, and metal and wood prints by Mpix.
Hometown Pie becomes the second straight Coffey County business to win the contest after EMP Shield of Burlington won last year. The company makes 1,000 pies a week, and Chaffain says she was getting a lot of interest from potential business partners before Tuesday’s announcement. She says she will likely have to add equipment to meet increased customer demand. Kansas Manufacturing Solutions is poised to offer guidance to that end as part of an on-site visit early next year.
Hometown Pie was announced during the Kansas Manufacturing Summit, which was held at the Kansas Casino and Event Center in Mulvane.
