By Natalie Lozano Trimble
Photography by Thanin Viriyaki
“It was quite literally just fate,” Lindsey Lawing says of the conversation that led to her opening a Sweet Lucy’s Pies storefront. Lawing decided to walk away from a lease in Southwest Fort Worth and afterward drove to Lettuce Cook’s location on Blue Bonnet Circle for lunch and a chat with the owner, Natalie Brown.
When Brown mentioned that a space with a commercial kitchen was available next door, Lawing says, she called the landlord the same day. In 2023, Sweet Lucy’s Pies opened after a decade of farmer’s markets and pop-ups empowered by Texas’ Cottage Food Law.
Lawing began supporting other entrepreneurs before the doors even opened; her sister, Jodi Maria, who owns Fort Worth Cookie Gal, uses the commercial kitchen and shares the retail space. The two women worked with their respective young daughters, Lucy Lawing and Ellie Maria, to open the shop.
Today, three other local businesses rent the commercial kitchen: Sunrise Scones, Crunchy Girl Granola and Mister Picoso, a Mexican candy company. The entrepreneurs regularly use an adjoining retail space as a pop-up.
Lawing is glad to give these burgeoning businesses a hand because so many people supported her: Gigi Howell helped her with Facebook, Russell Kirkpatrick connected her to the Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival, and the late Renie Steves, a local cookbook author, gave her feedback on pies.
But it was her mother, Gerri Lawing, who was her first sounding board for the idea and helped manage Sweet Lucy’s social media.
Gerri was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer in 2022.
“Every family is hopeful that they’re going to be the miracle,” Maria says. “You just are.”
Gerri passed away in December of 2024, after fighting for two and a half years.
During that time, Maria dove into the benefits of eating healthy. It started with juicing and then digging into what was in her food and where it came from. Gerri’s friends also spent time cooking from-scratch meals for her, an act that inspired Maria and Lawing.
When a friend, Melissa Dossey, was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer, Maria felt compelled to cook for her, too. For two years, Maria spent a day batch cooking organic freezer meals from scratch for Dossey, her husband and two young children.
Dossey passed away in January, and Maria has cooked another round of meals for the family as they navigate this transition. She’s also found other women facing late-stage cancer to cook for.
Maria says she has been helped in the kitchen by friends and even her employees, who volunteer their time.
Making it all from scratch includes cooking cream of mushroom soup using chicken stock she has prepared, if a recipe calls for it. But it’s also how she and Lawing approach their businesses. They juice lemons and peel apples for recipes, Maria says, because it tastes better.
Her new understanding of a healthy lifestyle is balanced by what she calls “splurge-worthy” foods, like the thick-gal cookies she sells.
For now, Fort Worth Cookie Gal’s profits fund Maria’s efforts to fill a few freezers with nourishing food. At some point, she hopes to start a nonprofit called “The Big C Word,” which will focus on serving women with late-stage cancer.
“If I can make a small difference in somebody’s life, that is well worth it,” Maria says.
Sweet Lucy’s Pies are available weekly at the Clearfork Farmer’s Market and at 3520 Blue Bonnet Circle from 12 to 6 p.m. Fridays and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.
Fort Worth Cookie Gal is available on Fridays in North Fort Worth at 7521 Mesa Verde Trail from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and at Sweet Lucy’s Pies from 12 to 6 p.m. On Saturdays, you can find her at the Clearfork Farmer’s Market and at the storefront from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The lemon bar recipe has been passed down from Lawing and Maria’s grandmother by way of their mother, Gerri Lawing. It was the lemon bar at the center of Fort Worth Cookie Gal’s Pink Lemonade Cookie, which has also been on the menu.
Find the recipe for Sweet Lucy’s Pies’ Lemon Bars here.