Katie Holland is the owner of Katie’s Pies and More, which sits at the intersection of Oklahoma City and Nicoma Park.
When asked about how she found her passion for baking, Katie shared she was working in a restaurant, and they needed a baker. She took on the task.
More than nine-years ago, she decided to go out on her own.
She worked out of her home for several years focusing on pies. Katie took great pleasure in people talking about how her pies tasted like the ones their grandmothers made.
She eventually added brownies and began putting ads for her baked goods in the local paper.
Katie took the step of opening a store front as her business grew, unfortunately it failed, and she went back to working out of her home.
The business has grown significantly in the last few years. She started selling her baked goods at the local farmers market and attending local events. Katie soon added cakes to her offerings to provide more variety.
People began encouraging her to start a food truck or open a store front, but, as you can imagine, she was scared. The last storefront did not do well, and she did not want to fail again.
This is about the time she heard about REI Oklahoma and the REI Women’s Business Center Capacity Initiative. Katie had not heard of or worked with us before.
When she initially applied, she requested funding for a three-compartment sink to expand her home business. However, between applying for the grant and being awarded the funds, she received the notification that the city would not rezone her property, so she made the decision to move into another commercial space. Katie was going to have a storefront again.
Due to the flexibility of the grant, REI Oklahoma was able to allow her to shift her funding to purchase needed kitchen equipment and refrigeration. The $500 allowed her to leverage her resources to purchase higher cost items like a commercial refrigerator. Katie bought additional bowls and spatulas to meet the needs of her growing production.
This was significant because spatulas that best mixes butter cream icing and eliminates all the air bubbl
es costs $40. The little things add up and the grant funds gave her the cushion to invest in high quality tools needed to bake the best desserts.
Katie said that while $500 might not seem like a large amount of money, the infusion of funds helped her business.
“You made a single mom’s dream come true by being a part of helping me with important resources needed for my business,” said Katie. “You have helped me build something that can be handed down to my son who has taken an interest in the business and baking. This is truly a multigenerational investment.”
We would like to thank the Women’s Foundation of Oklahoma and the great team at Communities Foundation of Oklahoma for their generous support of our pilot project, REI Women’s Business Center Capacity Initiative! The team at REI Oklahoma sees it as a true honor and privilege to be part of someone’s business journey.
Katie’s Pies and More
10901 NE 23 St, Suite 120
Oklahoma City, OK 73141
(405) 595-1400
*Suite 120 is on the back side of the building.