Alicia Short, the founder of Alicia’s Pies, laughs when she thinks about the personal and professional transformation that led to her launching a business devoted to baking. “Growing up, I couldn’t even hardly boil water,” she says. Even into her adult life, she was largely indifferent to making food. “I was married before, and I honestly could not cook then and I laugh and I say, ‘Boy, if he could see me now!’”
The evolution began with a professional setback. Short’s position at Xerox, where she had worked 18 years as a machinist and customer service representative, was eliminated. She had a severance package and unemployment to provide some comfort, but that ran out, and with her 50th birthday in sight, she began to wonder, “Who will hire me?”
Slowly, an idea began to emerge. In her thirties, an aunt had taught her to make sweet potato pie, and with abundant free time, she began to experiment with the recipe. Soon, her pies didn’t resemble at all the ones her aunt had taught her. Gone were the crusts made from dough (“I use dough only for diabetics.”) and replaced them with graham cracker. “You got to be part scientist,” she says.
And like a good scientist, she expanded upon her experiments. Short began infusing her sweet potato pies with all kinds of flavors, including french vanilla, eggnog, cream cheese, chocolate chips, pineapple, cherry, hazelnut and even mango. When she would bring her creations to holiday meals, her family and friends were blown away. Happily remarried for 25 years, her husband began encouraging her to consider doing something for herself and chart her own course instead of looking for a job. “If it weren’t for him,” Short says, “I would probably be working for someone else.”
Short decided to get serious about this possibility and went to Fox School of Business at Temple University to learn the fundamentals of being an entrepreneur. She says that the key question they ask students, often people with a passion and a talent, is: “Is this a business or a hobby?” Short was committed to making it a business.
Despite the education and the determination to launch her business, Short struggled. She couldn’t find anyone who was willing to tell her what licenses she needed to sell her food to the public. But then a fortuitous connection in an unexpected place put the business on track.
Candy Bermea-Hasan, who was just starting a vendor diversity initiative at Weavers Way Co-op, was telling her new hairdresser about the program, and that she was looking for Black-owned businesses that the co-op could help develop and support. The hairdresser also happened to have Short as a client, and passed her information on to Bermea-Hassan.
Bermea-Hassan directed Short to the Enterprise Center in West Philly, which provided Short with not only a commercial kitchen to bake her pies and cakes, but also the know-how to help her navigate all the paperwork.
Once she was properly certified, she was able to sell directly at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, which is the anchor of her business. She also maintains strong ties to Weavers Way, where, during the holiday season, she sells sweet potato pies and pumpkin cheesecake cupcakes.
“She’s a hard worker, and her product is great,” says Bermea-Hasan. “And I really, really like her as a person.”
People who eat her pies seem to agree with that assessment of her food — and her, too. “One lady told me last week, ‘I think you put your soul in that sweet potato pie,’” says a laughing Short.
But that’s ultimately how she sees it, too. “It’s like a ministry to me. The first bite should taste like the last bite. And if I can’t do that, I won’t do it.”
For more information, visit thegourmetsweetpotatopiesfactory.com
