Meet Your Makers: Adrienne Blumthal of PieBox

We think every merchant we work with for Provisions is special—but when we find one with a great story, we’ll be featuring them here. Because we want to tell the world about our favorite makers. 

Today: Meet the baker behind PieBox who is out to protect our finest pastries.

Dessert has a soft spot in our hearts, and in our kitchen. No matter how sated we are, we can usually find room for a chocolate chip cookie or sliver of pound cake. And when it comes to baking, we’re especially enamored with pie. 

Not only is pie delicious -- it’s also versatile and can match any season and taste.  From dark, rich chocolate pecan to lightly-sweetened apple, there’s a pie for every occasion. And though it can appear intimidating (pie crust, we’re looking at you), it’s a project any cook can master. 

But it is a project – from crust to filling – and after all that work, we want to be able to share it. This is just the problem Adrienne Blumthal encountered while in pastry school in Chicago. After 8 years in marketing, Adrienne was baking constantly as she worked towards her pastry degree -- and in her spare time, she specialized in her favorite dessert: pie. When she wanted to bring it to dinner parties, or picnics, or over to a friend’s house, she could either use a flimsy and wasteful cardboard box or a bulky plastic Tupperware container. 

  

She wanted something beautiful to tote her pies that would match the care and detail she put into making each pastry perfect. With a eye for food styling, the discrepancy in aesthetics between confection and container nagged at her, and thus the idea for PieBox was born. With the assistance of her fiancé Steve and graphic designer sister Carol, she built a prototype of the pine wood PieBox. After a successful test run, they launched and later added a CakeBox to the collection.

Each box carefully houses a pie or cake, and comes with an optional strap, so you can transport baked goods while keeping them safe and intact. She chose the simple, neutral blonde wood for the boxes in order to showcase rather than detract from the beauty of every pie. Adrienne points out that wine companies use this type of container to ship, and the concept makes sense. Why spend so much effort and love on creating a product and not on the packaging? Why not match the prettiness of pastry to the package too?

  

We’ve long faced the same conundrum – desserts are one of the foods that we almost always make to share. And we don’t want to compromise on style. We invest in beautiful bakeware and utensils, and Adrienne brings this same sensibility to the last step in the process – transport and sharing.

Though wildly busy baking pies and running PieBox, Adrienne will be taking a break for her August wedding in Michigan. Of course we asked about the dessert, which will be a traditional wedding cake. But for her wedding dinner? Savory pies, of course.