Business booms at bakery that helps raise dough for causes

Louie Traub/ViewSelections at Pies Unlimited come in more than 20 flavors and 80 varieties. Louie Traub/ViewSelections at Pies Unlimited come in more than 20 flavors and 80 varieties. Advertisement

Perhaps it's good karma.

Mike and Treasa Teliska's Pies Unlimited is doing such a brisk business, it recently expanded. The bakery, located at 9310 Sun City Blvd., Suite 104, opened in August, with the Teliskas operating out of a 2,400-square-foot space with two employees.

Now it has expanded to 3,600 square feet and has 11 employees. It also went from making 50 pies a day to about 800. Come the holidays, that number zooms to as high as 2,000 per day. "We make a lot of dough," Treasa Teliska said, using an industry joke.

Besides the retail aspect of Pies Unlimited, it also offers its products to help churches, schools, Scout groups and similar recipients raise funds. The group that receives the pies gets a cut rate, then sells them at whatever price it decides. The bakery also offers gift cards to groups that want to raise funds.

UMC used the pies for an American Heart Association fundraiser in April 2006 and again at Thanksgiving that year. The second one was done as a courtesy for its employees, a one-stop shop opportunity. The initial partnering had UMC buying 600 mini-pies, which are 4 inches apiece.

"We couldn't fit them all in one car. We had to make two trips," said Donna Point, senior purchasing analyst for UMC. "We sold every single pie and everyone was raving about them."

Especially popular, she said, were the sugar-free varieties for dieters and those with diabetes. Pies Unlimited offers more than 20 flavors and 80 varieties. Its secret to making tasty pies involves going back to the basics, according to the owners.

"We use quality ingredients and make them from scratch," Mike Teliska said. "They're not just thrown together."

He and his wife act as taste testers, as do their two children, ages 8 and 12.

Darlene Rogers has been a customer since the shop opened in 2006. "I've tried all their pies. Every flavor," she said. "I tell people they're better than Marie Callendar's."

For more information, visit www.piesunlimited.com.