Meet Your Neighbour: Williamsford Pie Company
Lemon raspberry buttermilk pie, a 1904 hardware store and free pictures with Santa: our first Meet Your Neighbour Business.
By David Ellis · · 3 min read
Filed under the sample hamlet label Williamsford. That is a filing label for this edition, not a claim that anything happened there.
Meet Your Neighbour Business is a weekly Banner feature about a local business. It is editorial, not advertising, and no one pays to be in it.
If you've driven Hwy 6 through Williamsford, you've passed the Williamsford Pie Company. For our first Meet Your Neighbour Business, we asked owner Kim seven questions by email. She and Sam, who own it together, asked to be named by their first names only.
From a farm to a country bakery
Kim and Sam bought a small farm in the area in 2012. Kim said they have been in the restaurant business for more than 40 years and "had always dreamed of having a small country bakery."
When the Williamsford Pie Company came up for sale in 2016, they bought it. They already knew it as customers. "We had been going there for the famous lemon raspberry buttermilk pies and other treats, and it just seemed like a good fit for us," Kim said.
The pie everyone orders
That lemon raspberry buttermilk pie is still the top seller. Kim said it outsells any other pie the bakery makes four to one.
"But all of our pies are very popular, especially in the winter and holiday seasons," she said.
Kim said everything is made from scratch. She listed brownies, cream tarts, New York-style cheesecakes in several flavours, butter tarts, Nanaimo bars, pound cakes, scones, cinnamon buns and cannoli among the treats customers ask for.
Two slices of cheesecake from the Williamsford Pie Company. Photo: Williamsford Pie Company, used with permission.
A building with a long memory
Ask Kim about the building and she has plenty to say: "Where do I begin! This is a favorite topic for me as the building and the town are so rich with history."
Louis Privát built it by hand from concrete blocks in 1904, and Kim said it keeps its original structure today. It was a hardware store on the main floor from the start, with the Privát family living upstairs.
The Elliot family bought the building in 1922 from Louis Privát's son William. As Elliot's Hardware, it stayed in the family, who also raised their families upstairs, until 2007. That year it was bought from Bob and Carol Elliot when they retired, and it became the Williamsford Pie Company.
Local partners
The bakery works with local artisan partners, Kim said, including Chatsworth Honey, Big Mama's Kitchen Creations, Noah Martin Maple Syrup, Cottage Country North Preserves, Cecil's Smoked Cheese, Root to Fruit, and West Grey Premium Beef, which supplies all of its meat.
Local seasonal fruit and vegetables go into some seasonal products. Kim's favourite is the zucchini bread, made with zucchini from Bob and Carol Elliot's garden.
What she wants neighbours to know
"We are a local, family owned and operated business, using the highest quality ingredients in all our baked goods," Kim said. "Our products are homemade from scratch, with no additives or preservatives."
She said the bakery tries to give back through donations, sponsorship and community involvement. She said it hires only locally and employs 12 to 15 permanent full- and part-time staff, including students and seniors.
Hours and holiday orders
Kim said the bakery is open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. now, and from November through April it will be open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Hours posted on the bakery's website may differ, so call ahead.
"Christmas time is a very busy time for us!" Kim said.
The holiday menu includes decorated Christmas cookies, Christmas-themed cakes and cupcakes, and traditional mincemeat pies and mincemeat butter tarts. The bakery also makes treat trays and gift baskets, either to a customer's order or its own selection, starting at $20.
A Williamsford Pie Company gift basket with honey, hot sauce, preserves, coffee, syrup and baked goods. Photo: Williamsford Pie Company, used with permission.
Kim asks for two to three days' notice for trays and baskets, and five to seven days for specialty orders such as cakes, cupcakes or bulk orders.
There's also a "Pictures with Santa" day, with free pictures with Santa and free hot chocolate and cookies for everyone. The date is still to be set.
"We love Christmas and we love to help you celebrate the holidays by doing the baking for you!" Kim said.
The Williamsford Pie Company is in Williamsford. Its phone number is 519-794-2034, and its website is williamsfordpiecompany.ca.
Know a local business we should meet? Email news@chatsworthbanner.ca.
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