Hoosier Mama in Chicago expects a boom in pie sales on Pi Day.
You might have heard of Pi Day, which is held each year on March 14. The numbers—3/14—match the first three digits of pi, the number that carries on to infinity.
March 14 also happens to be Alfred Einstein’s birthday, which adds a layer of true math genius to the date, whose celebration dates to 1988.
What you may not know is that Pi Day is becoming a festive day within the food world. Numerous places associated with pie—whether the dessert, a savory main course or pizza—are offering Pi Day specials this Saturday.
And they aren’t just sly math jokes. Paula Haney, the owner of Hoosier Mama Pie Company in Chicago, says Pi Day is now her second-best sales day for pie, behind Thanksgiving.
On Pi Day, her business is six times what it would be on an ordinary March day, Haney says.
Last week, she posted a photo on Instagram of the Pi Day preparations underway at her shops in Chicago and nearby Evanston.
“Pi Day, and the day before Pi Day, are huge for us,” Haney said in an email. “It is our single biggest day of sales, next to Thanksgiving Wednesday and Thanksgiving itself.”
Haney sells apple pies with the pi symbol baked into the crust, which a number of customers buy to share with work colleagues and take home to eat with their families. But in her shops, Pi Day has turned out to be a solo celebration.
“What makes it especially grueling for us is that on Pi Day, most of our sales are one slice of pie at a time,” Haney says.
Last year, at her Evanston store, Hoosier Mama sold 319 whole nine-inch pies and 130 six-inch pies on Pi Day. From the nine-inch pies, the shop sold 953 slices of pie. It gets six slices from each pie.
On a normal Thursday in March, the store would plan on selling 45 to 50 nine-inch pies and 35 to 45 six-inch pies. She says her Chicago shop had similar numbers, meaning that more than 600 big pies and about 260 smaller pies were sold by the two shops for Pi Day.
“It is really a fun and crazy day for us,” Haney says.
Pi Day this year falls on a Saturday, when the Achatz Handmade Pie Company of Chesterfield Township, Michigan, is usually closed. So this year, Achatz is offering its Pi Day specials on Friday. It will sell slices of pie for $3.14 each, and it also offers a 15% discount to teachers.
Achatz is encouraging customers to pre-order their pies, whether they pick them up at one of the six Achatz stores or from a retailer that sells Achatz pies. It is also running a contest so that six teachers can win a pie party for their classroom.
Meanwhile, the deals aren’t just for pie itself. Here is a list of a variety of others.
They include national pizza companies such as Blaze Pizza, Papa John’s and Papa Murphy’s and many local outlets, too. Lou Malnati’s Pizza is offering a $3.14 chocolate chip cookie pizza for customers who visit its restaurants.
Grocers such as Whole Foods and Kroger are also offering Pi Day deals that vary depending on location.
So if you are looking for a discount to break up your late winter tedium, Pi Day will definitely provide one.
