DeSoto High School Sophomore Kevin Robinson, Jr. turned his pandemic boredom into a business! Having been interested in baking as a small child, Robinson began cooking again this spring as an alternative activity during COVID quarantine. After trying a few meals, he decided to prepare a special anniversary dinner for his parents, Kevin Sr. and Jackie. “We said sure, that’s nice,” Jackie explained. “Then we tasted the food and it was fantastic! We told him to keep practicing, the kitchen is open!”
So, practice he did, returning to the love of baking. “Cooking and baking just comes naturally; it's a stress reliever and takes my mind off things,” Robinson disclosed. “I enjoy being in the kitchen and trying out new recipes.” Wanting to surprise his grandmother with a sweet potato pie to rival her signature recipe, Robinson began researching recipes on the internet, testing ingredients and processes until he found the right combination. “I started looking online (videos and different websites) and for different sweet potato pie recipes,” he said. “Some recipes had the same ingredients and process, so I took several options and made it my own.” By the end of summer, it was time to reveal his creation to his grandmother to rave reviews. "Oh, you can sell that!" Nana exclaimed, then takes a few more bites and smiles. "This is delicious, baby!" Mema agreed. "Wow, this tastes like mine. It's really good!" Great Aunt completed.
Proud Mom Jackie posted pictures of the beautiful pie on her social media account and friends started asking to order. The post was shared and more orders came in. The first customers tasted their orders and shared word of mouth compliments. Orders flowed in, followed by requests for different flavors. Creating a list of suggestions, Robinson researched and designed new recipes. “Once I started selling sweet potato pies I started receiving requests for different types of pies and desserts. I did the same process; looked online for various recipes and would bake 2-3 versions of each type of dessert. Once I baked a few recipes of each dessert I needed to find some taste testers. I wanted an honest opinion so I had to look outside of my immediate family. I know some of my neighbors and also my mom had some of her friends/co-workers taste as well. I asked each person to give their honest opinion and not to hold back on their comments/suggestions. My dad and mom would track the responses and I would take their feedback to perfect my recipe. Sometimes there were tiebreakers and I had to make the decision on which recipe I thought was best.” “It's so hard to choose which pie is the best?” Grandma agreed. “All of them are delicious!" Not to be left out, Dad piped in "Let me taste these pies...man, they are pretty good!”
Once taste tests were complete and recipes modified, an ordering menu was created, and The Pie Dude was born. So why The Pie Dude? “I was serving at an event at my church and a lot of people were saying, there's The Pie Man or The Pie Guy!” Robinson described. “I was surprised that people recognized me then my parents told me that may be a good business name. As I was debating on the name, I felt like man and guy sounded kind of old (I'm only 15), so one of my neighbors suggested, The Pie Dude. I knew that was the perfect name!”
With 20 to 30 orders per week flowing in, the Robinson kitchen was busy. As Thanksgiving approached, more than 100 orders were in queue. Good thing Robinson’s god-parents own Cake Daddy Bakery. Using the Cake Daddy kitchen, Robinson completed the Thanksgiving orders and more, creating gift boxes to bless some families!
“We are so proud of Kevin!” Jackie enthused. “He is very gifted a truly a great young man. Ever since he was young all of his teachers said he would be something big one day. He said he never saw it... but we all did and do! Even with his business he still feels like it's not a big deal. We remind him many people dedicate their lives to their business and God has blessed him with overflow! We've had friends from our church create his logo and marketing materials (for free). We also had a former DHS graduate, Vallery Mitchell, reach out to us to offer her services. She has her own non-profit, Fostering Dreams Dallas, and created his website for free and donated her time and expertise in marketing to assist Kevin.”
Complete with family assistance in bookkeeping and inventory control, delivery and pick up schedules outlined and active social media campaigns, this aspiring dentist may also look into options at DeSoto High School’s Culinary Arts program. His imagination sparked and options open, we look forward to watching this Eagle soar!
See more on this video: https://youtu.be/EjQcso7_TZM