Pie cart opens in industrial area
A third-generation pie-maker has brought his craft to Invercargill with a new food truck called the Pie-oneer.
Owner-operator Callum Innes moved to the city from Gisborne for a variety of reasons, starting with wanting to try something different.
He also did not want “a big mortgage” and noted that Invercargill had motorsport facilities. “So it drove us to come here because I love motorsport”, he said. “People are friendly here.” Specialising in pies and other pastries, Innes does a pie-of-the-week every week.
“That’s some crazy flavours like jalapeno pork belly and halloumi along with all the standard flavours of a normal bakery.”
He will introduce more pie-of-the-week flavours slowly, he said.
The cart also offers coffee, muffins and Danish pastries.
Innes had been trained by his uncle Shane Kearns, who ran The Baker in Tirau, and had won the Supreme Pie Awards multiple times, he said.
At Pie-oneer, the steak and cheese, and the peppered steak and cheese pies had been the most popular so far.
“Once we get a bit more established, we'll bring in more crazy flavours.”
Innes said he was exploring a more permanent location for the bakery, because it was challenging to bake everything in the trailer and then sell it out of the trailer next day.
He’s also looking to build another location in Central Otago to film a video series where he would make different pies from across the world and talk about the hard things in life “that most people want to talk about, but don't like talking about”.
That included life’s struggles and how other people had overcome them, to try and help others, he said.
Innes thanked the community for welcoming him and he was looking forward to being a part of the “big family” here.