Julian Pie Company

The Julian Pie Company became a reality for Liz Smothers in September of 1986.  It all started when she and a neighbor began peeling apples for a local pie shop where she was soon employed to bake and sell pies.  Tim, her son worked after school rolling dough.

Recognizing her expertise, two other pie shops hired her to bake for them.  While Liz enjoyed the activity and baking for the pie shops, she had a desire to be creative on her own and not merely bake someone else's pie.  With the assistance of a friend and emphasis on quality control and clean, neat surroundings, the Julian Pie Company began.

In 1989, Keith and Liz purchased an apple farm and with the help of son Dan, 17,000 trees were planted to supply fresh apples for the pie shop.  While the orchard occupied much of Keith’s time, Liz’s expertise was in the kitchen ensuring quality control.  Her goal was to produce a pie that would capture the essence of the small mountain town of Julian.

Being the youngest of eight children, Liz attributes the love of pie making to her mother.  'One of my fondest memories is standing on a box beside my mother putting leftover pie dough in a metal jar lid to make a pie.'  Today she attributes the success of the pie shop to her dedicated team of bakers and staff.

On any given day you will find Dave, the oldest son, managing the Julian shop while Tim, the youngest son, heads up operations at the Santa Ysabel location.  Daughter-in-law Brandi assists with the bookkeeping.  Eldest daughter Joni and son Dan, while still supportive of the business enjoy other levels of success as an author and an electrical engineer. 

Liz, while still participating in her love of pie making, leaves much of the overall operations to son Tim.  Today she continues to oversee quality control and customer satisfaction and in addition serves as a consultant and primary resource for start-up businesses.

With a growing demand for our pies in local markets, the need to expand the production resulted in the opening of the Santa Ysabel facility in 1992.  We now deliver pies to San Diego and Riverside counties as well as ship pies throughout the United States.

Though times have changed the goals remain the same.  When you visit you will notice the pie company has retained the basic traditions that have made it a favorite for over twenty years.

We truly appreciate your business and we are constantly at work to provide you with a relaxing and enjoyable pie eating experience. If this is your first time visiting with us, or if you are one of our valued long-time customers, we hope you will find our pies, service and surroundings to be to your complete satisfaction.

The Smothers Family