Detroit, MI — Earlier this year, the owner of a bakery on Detroit’s East Side made a difficult decision to pause regular business operations.

Lisa Ludwinski, the Owner and Founder of Sister Pie, announced on social media in late May that the business wouldn’t be able to sustain operations in its current state and had to take an interlude. Sister Pie closed its doors the week of June 9th, with Lisa stating she was going to take some time to explore and reconfigure the path ahead for her bakery. The bakery’s initial post on Instagram announcing the pause of operations generated over seven thousand reactions and hundreds of comments in support of the beloved bakery, which had become a staple and foodie destination for many in the West Village community.

Lisa launched Sister Pie on Thanksgiving in 2012 out of her parents’ kitchen in Milford. The following year, she enrolled in what would eventually become the Build Institute and then joined Foodlab. The bakery’s staff grew by one not long after moving into a shared commercial kitchen in Hannan House on Woodward Avenue, and began selling its products at local cafes and shops in 2014. Sister Pie’s reputation, quality pies, and baked goods continued to grow, leading to a sizeable following.

Lisa began renting the corner shop and future home of Sister Pie at Parker Street and Kercheval Avenue in 2014. Through the help of family, friends, City of Detroit grants, and fundraising campaigns, Sister Pie opened the doors to its brick-and-mortar location on April 24th in 2015. The bakery’s hustle gained a huge following locally and nationally, leading Lisa to launch pie-making classes in 2016, followed by writing a cookbook featuring 75 recipes and fan favorites in 2018!

When I saw Sister Pie’s post on social media, I promptly uttered an “Oh no…” under my breath. Unfortunately, there’s been an uptick in restaurants and small businesses closing since the pandemic due to various reasons like rising costs and the tightening of finances for many. So one can’t help but worry when an institution like Sister Pie has to take a beat and catch its breath. Although operations and output had to temporarily downsize, Sister Pie was not down for the count, however.

FULL SECTION: MI Foodie Adventures Bakery Series

Lisa and Sister Pie entered a period of restructuring and strategic planning over the summer, but continued to host occasional baking classes, participated in pop-ups at Eastern Market, and had limited serving windows during the summer interlude. Throughout late summer and into early Fall, I exchanged e-mails with Lisa about meeting up for an interview about what led to the decision for the interlude, the latest developments with Sister Pie, and what’s ahead for Lisa, her team, and the cherished Detroit bakery.

Lisa and I were able to arrange a good day and time for me to swing by the bakery after work in late October. I went straight after getting out of work on a Monday and pulled up to the bakery at the corner of Parker Street and Kercheval Avenue. I was meeting with Lisa and the owners of a local specialty coffee roaster, Eastside Roasterz, who are collaborating with Lisa and holding pop-ups at Sister Pie and other Detroit venues. After parking, I approached the corner entrance and waved at Lisa and the founders of Eastside Roasterz, Tiffany and Riss Dezort. I joined the trio at the table and commenced with my interviews, starting off with Lisa.

I began by asking Lisa about her decision to take Sister Pie on an interlude earlier this year, and what some of the challenges were that her business was facing.

“The years since COVID have been really challenging. When we originally shut down for COVID, we had a grocery program for about two months, and then from there we reopened and started to very slowly bring the business back. And during that time, we were really, really cautious. We were getting some funding support from the SBA, and we were trying our best to get back on our feet. But the truth is that we haven’t gotten to that profitable place that we were in 2019. So, when I first started the business, it was kind of growing 20% every year, and then when COVID hit and you’re faced with all of these decisions and a changing world, you know, it changed for my business a lot too,” Lisa explained.

Lisa told me she eventually became a lot more engrained in the day-to-day operations, making it harder to extract herself from the tasks at hand to address and strategize for the future of the bakery. Then, in May, Lisa made the very tough decision to dial things down at Sister Pie, ceasing regular business hours in order to confront and stave off a financial crisis.

“It was a very challenging decision to make, because I laid off most of my employees and decided to shut down the shop’s regular operating hours. I kept one employee, Lana, who has been working with me all summer, and although the bakery is closed, we have not rested very much at all,” Lisa said. “We’ve done Eastern Market, we’ve done pop-ups in the shop for breakfast and lunch, and in any spare time, we’ve been working on our vision and strategic plan for the future of Sister Pie.”

Lisa said that she and Lana worked all summer on their vision for the future, which was heavily inspired by the vision plans created by Zingerman’s Deli for its Community of Businesses. The vision serves as a guide for small business owners and consists of goals to work toward while balancing short and long-term logistics and strategy. Lisa says she’s excited to see her new vision for Sister Pie become a reality.

“It’s a five-year vision. So we have a lot of work to do to start those steps. But in the very immediate future, we are focusing on catering and special events for the holiday season. So we are going to work with a very small team of people. We are going to kind of test out our catering menu and let our customers use Sister Pie for various events and get feedback from them and understand how to build that element of our business so that it can be a really strong foundation. And once we have created that foundation, we will then start to think about the next steps, like increasing the baking classes, bringing the retail shop back for regular hours, and continuing to work with that vision,” Lisa explained.

Another endeavor of Sister Pie has been expanding its collaborations with other local business owners, like Eastside Roasterz. Tiffany and Riss Dezort have been longtime Sister Pie superfans and live in the West Village community. They began working with Lisa in 2023 after launching their micro coffee roastery out of their apartment.

“We started popping up outside during the summer of 2023. They would feature our coffee inside on Saturdays, and we would pop up outside, and it was just this wonderful partnership. A few months in, we became their full coffee partner, and they were serving our coffee every day of the week. And from there we’ve maintained a wholesale relationship, until the last few months where we entered into a little bit more of a collaborative partnership with having a physical space that we could sell our coffee drinks out of, while our brick-and-mortar option for us is being worked on,” said Riss, CEO and Head Roaster. “We came to Lisa with what felt like a harebrained idea of banding together so that we could serve coffee out of her space and potentially sell some of her Sister Pie treats, and she was on board. We decided it was a wonderful, mutually beneficial set-up, and we leaned into it with this Fall pop-up schedule.”

As Lisa continues to re-establish the direction of Sister Pie and explore new avenues, Eastside Roasterz also has plans for continued growth and expansion.

“We’re always open and we’re always talking to people about different partnerships and different collaborations. The long-term dream goal is to eventually have our own roasting and tasting room space. We wouldn’t be mad if it happened sooner rather than later, but the ideal goal is within the next 5 to 10 years, having a roasting space that is just for us, that we can invite potential wholesale clients in, show them the work, and what we have to offer. Until then, we are pouring into the partnerships that we’ve cultivated and who have stuck beside us this whole time since we were just a little baby coffee roasting company,” Riss explained.

FULL SECTION: MI Foodie Adventures Video Projects

Reflecting back on the announcement of the interlude, Lisa said there was a lot of uncertainty even in just trying to define or determine what the interlude would look like or when it would end, but added that the responses and outreach from the community have been very positive and supportive. The backing from Sister Pie’s loyal customers, the community, and other business groups has really motivated Lisa and helped develop her five-year vision for the bakery.

“The thing that is amazing about it is that all of that comes from how much support we’ve received. And that was the part about announcing the interlude that felt overwhelmingly positive because what it said to me was, okay, there are a lot of people rooting for your success. So many people were saying, ‘hey, you got this… Can’t wait to see what’s next for Sister Pie,’ so really focusing on those people and the energy that they were bringing has been really inspirational during this time,” stated Lisa.

---

I thanked Lisa and Eastside Roasterz immensely for their time and finished gathering my b-roll elements before departing Sister Pie. Walking away, I couldn’t help but feel inspired myself by this new energy lighting the fires and proverbial ovens of the bakery. Not only are new chapters unfolding for Lisa and Sister Pie, but I’m excited to see what the future brings for Tiffany and Riss Dezort with their coffee roastery.

To stay up to date on the latest developments of Sister Pie and what’s next for Lisa and her team, click here. For more information about Eastside Roasterz, click here.