You Need Pie – The Business
You Need Pie! Diner & Bakery’s mission is serve our guests in a manner consistent with our core values. Those values are encompassed in our mission statement which is abbreviated as the acronym WGBP. This stands for Would Grandma Be Proud. You see, this is a family business. Most of our recipes are family recipes that have been handed down through the generations and are recipes our grandmothers and great grandmothers perfected long ago. We feel it is our responsibility and goal to honor those memories and traditions in our bakery and diner. As such, we look to our mission statement when making decisions that affect the business. For instance – Would Grandma Be Proud of the food we are serving? Of the atmosphere we are providing? Of the way we are conducting our business? Of the way we interact and support our community? How about of the way our team members are treated, or the way a customer feels after coming to You Need Pie? After all – who would ever want to disappoint their grandmother! If we feel like we are doing something that grandma wouldn’t be proud of then we simply don’t do it. As a reminder, and to keep them close to us, a photograph of our grandmothers’ hangs in the restaurant for all to see!
Our Story
Rick and Val met in Estes Park in high school (Awww!) and were married when they were 21. After high school, they both enjoyed successful careers in the property management industry, living in Oklahoma, Georgia, Alabama, and Colorado (after moving 12 times for the national property management corporation they both worked for) and holding responsible positions of Regional Vice President for Val, and Director of Training for Rick. In 2002, they decided to start a family of their own after 14 years of marriage. Their daughter Haddi was born in November 2003! Shortly before her birth, the company Rick & Val worked for was sold to a competitor and jobs were changed for the worse. Rick and Val decided to move home to Colorado where the majority of their family lived at the time and go into business for themselves fulfilling a lifelong dream of owning their own business. In 2006, on a trip to their hometown Estes Park, Val and Haddi discovered a defunct bakery with equipment for sale. They purchased the equipment and the first version of You Need Pie! was born. The first shop was a walk up bakery with bakery cases and counter service (no seating). The shop was in this location for just over 4 years on Elkhorn Avenue in Estes Park. In 2013, we moved to a larger space and were able to expand to our Diner menu where we offer breakfast all day, lunch and dinner items. Our food is prepared fresh daily, using fresh, whole ingredients, the way grandma and mom taught us! We make our items from scratch and take great pride in the quality of our food at an affordable price. We love our new location at 509 Big Thompson Avenue in Lower Stanley Village and we’re excited to continue making grandma proud for years to come. Please come visit us!
After 15 + years in business, we are excited to now be offering two levels of franchises for sale! In an effort to expand the brand, we began offering franchise opportunities in 2021. Choose from the full restaurant and pie shop option with the You Need Pie! Diner & Bakery model, or just the pies and bakery section with the You Need Pie! Express model. Contact us today for franchising information!