At first glance, Emporium Pies might not seem like a natural fit for the Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival’s Burgers, Brews + Blues event. 

The neighboring vendors will have hearty beef and beer options while Emporium Pies brings much lighter, sweeter fare. 

But that contrast makes the pies a perfect fit for the festival.

“Our pie pairs well with barbecue, with burgers, definitely with wine,” Emporium Pies co-owner Jennifer Abohosh says.

Abohosh runs Emporium Pies alongside sisters Landon Perdue and Addie Roberts. Perdue’s husband, Charlie, is  a financial partner. The sisters took ownership of the pie shop in November 2022 when founders Megan Wilkes and Mary Sparks sold. Abohosh does marketing, Roberts oversees the kitchen and Perdue manages the storefronts. 

Emporium Pies has four locations throughout the DFW metroplex, including the flagship store in Dallas’ Bishop Arts District. McKinney, Dallas’ Deep Ellum neighborhood and Fort Worth’s Near Southside house the other locations. 

Emporium Pies changes pie flavors with the seasons and offers five on the year-round menu: Bonnie and Pie’d, the Drunken Nut (pecan), a chocolate pie with salted pretzel crust named Smooth Operator and two apple pies—the deep dish version is Lord of the Pies and the standard version is Dapper Apple.

This is Emporium Pies’ second year at the Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival, which runs April 3-6. Last year, the sisters brought three pies—apple, pecan and Glazed and Confused, a lemon chess pie—and are currently crafting this year’s menu. 

“We love what’s happening in the culinary arts in Fort Worth, and we are so proud as a brand to have a presence at FWFWF!” Perdue writes in an email. “We were honored to be included among some of the greatest chefs in the city! Our little pie shop may have started in Dallas, but what’s so exciting is seeing the new energy that Fort Worth has brought and the community we are cultivating there.” 

The sisters have expanded Emporium Pies’ grocery line over the past few years. Central Market carries the frozen pie dough year-round along with seasonal pies. A recent partnership with Neiman Marcus means the pies can be shipped nationwide. 

Original pie recipes remain unchanged, but the sisters are adding new ones. Last year, they debuted a cinnamon roll pie called Sweet Like Cinnamon, which stemmed from a family tradition. 

“That was holidays in our house growing up,” Abohosh says. “It didn’t matter what holiday it was, what birthday, there was always cinnamon rolls in the morning.” 

A love of coffee inspired the first recipe the sisters crafted for Emporium Pies. Bonnie and Pie’d is a custard pie featuring coffee from Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters in the Bishop Arts District. The name came from a customer suggestion and is a nod to notorious Great Depression-era outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow who had lots of Dallas ties. 

Emporium Pies’ menu rotates every one to two months. As spring approaches, flavors like key lime, lemon and blueberry grace the menu. The fall brings pumpkin and banana.  

The year-round menu has five pies: Bonnie and Pie’d, the Drunken Nut (pecan), a chocolate pie with salted pretzel crust named Smooth Operator and two apple pies—-the deep dish version is Lord of the Pies and the standard version is Dapper Apple. 

Ingredients come from wholesale delivery companies and direct from suppliers. Local farms supply pecans and apples. Abohosh says every ingredient is “top-notch” and Emporium Pies does not use corn syrup or artificial flavorings.  

Some pies require significant time commitments, like the 12 hours needed to create an apple pie. 

“The pie is in the oven three different times before it’s done,” Abohosh says. “But we don’t want to skip out on that recipe or any part of it because we know that’s what makes that pie special.”

Emporium Pies makes holiday-themed pies as well. Thanksgiving and Christmas pies are the store’s “bread and butter” while chicken pot pie is made for Pi Day on March 14, a reference to the mathematical constant of pi (3.14), and the store’s September birthday and heart-shaped pies come out for Valentine’s Day.  

Every store location has certain best-selling pie flavors—Fort Worth loves fruit pies, Abohosh says—and gets their pies fresh each morning from a centralized kitchen. This creates a consistent customer experience across the metroplex. 

As a family-run business, the sisters value hospitality. They enjoy celebrating the stories behind each purchase and want every customer to feel at home. 

“But whatever it is, we like to be there with you,” Abohosh says. “And I think people feel that when they come in, that they’re coming into a version of grandma’s kitchen. It’s warm, it’s sweet, it’s inviting and they can celebrate their moments with us.”