Meet Judy Balunda

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Judy Balunda. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Judy, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

I developed my work ethic at a very young age. My Father worked for a large jewelry chain, and every Christmas (once I was old enough) I would work as the gift wrap person. It was important that the tape never showed, and that the package looked beautiful. If it was anything less than “perfect”, the package was re-wrapped. I learned at a very young age that you have to make the customer happy, so that they would continue to shop with my Father. He helped me to understand the relationship between happy customers and pay checks. Today, young people and some older, just don’t have a clue. This always makes me sad, and it is a concept that young workers of today, just don’t get it. If their paycheck is 50 cents off….that they notice.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

While I am the sole director of “EVERYTHING”, I feel my role is about keeping people happy, and making sure the pie is the best it can possibly be. JudyPie is my “happy place”, and I want my guest to think of JudyPie as their “happy place”. After I retired from 28 years of Teaching Special Education in GCISD, I struggled with my own mental health, and that was at a time when Mental Health just wasn’t talked about. I took some classes through NAMI, and became a Peer. Being a PEER is very important to me. That was what I needed at that time to help me move forward with my life. . Moving forward one year, I had friends who owned a bakery, and they asked me to make pies for them for Thanksgiving. I did, and had a lot of fun making so many pies, and people loved them. Someone suggested I open my own pie shop, so I started looking for a location. My x-husband found the location where I am. At the time, it was a sewing shop. We converted the shop to a bakery. I truly never dreamed I would have my own bakery, after teaching 28 years. I thought that meant I was supposed to retire and travel???
I have two very successful children, Samuel & Adohree. Sadly….neither child at this time has the desire to one day take over the pie shop.
The pie shop opened, and I knew the bakery was a vehicle to allow me to continue my support of people who suffer with Mental Health Issues.
On each of the tables at the shop, I have blank notes so guests can write kind notes to people who suffer. JudyPie has adopted The Community Center in Fort Worth (MHMR), and JudyPie uses all of the donations to buy toiletries, candy, goodies and more. We make cute little bags and attach the notes that JudyPie guests have written, and attach to the gift bag. Once a month we take the cards, gifts and pie to the Community Center to celebrate Birthdays. We take lunch and pie for the guests and they get their Birthday gifts from JudyPie. Making this population happy, makes my heart happy. All that to say, this is my main focus along with great pie and great customer service. Having all 3, you can’t go wrong. We offer game night once a month and in the spring we are going to have baking classes. We are exploring a pie of the month. So much to do, so little time.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Getting down to “real” business of managing the 5th best pie shop in the USA as noted by USAToday… I knew I needed a plan. I thought of places I love to go to, and why did I want to keep going back. First and foremost is superb customer service and delicious products that are sold in the pie shop. I truly started from scratch. I painstakingly went through all of my recipes and decided on which ones I would open with. All of the pies I selected were from my Mom’s hand written recipe book. Nine years later, I still have them on the daily menu; Rhoda’s Pecan, Chocolate Cream, Coconut Cream, Apple, Buttermilk, Cherry and Lemon Meringue. I had to figure out how much it cost to make each pie, how much rent was, and all of the other expenses that go into opening a business. This was not one of my favorite tasks. I am a people person, not really a numbers person, but you have to know the numbers. If you can’t figure it out, you have to find someone to assist. Finding the right person to do this was probably the hardest and least fun of the whole opening experience. I call it the nuts and bolts to success. If I have to do it again, I know the task will be a wee bit easier.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

The greatest obstacle I have had to deal with over the past 9 years has been finding quality people to work at JudyPie. My bakers are awesome and have been with me for 5 years. That explains why the pies, cookies and cakes are consistently delicious.
Hiring people and managing them for the front of the house, has not been easy. I will be the first to admit, I had no problem as a Teacher managing a classroom, but employees, not nearly as easy. I have reached out to my kitchen manager to assist with my task of managing. I call us “The Leadership” team. Judith, the Kitchen Manager, assists me in seeing “all” sides of the story. I feel like I finally have a great team, and hope they stay a very long time. I call them PieRistas.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://JudyPie.com
• Instagram: Judypie_mainstreet
• Facebook: JudyPIe Grapevine
• Twitter: JudyPie@JudyPie2016
• Yelp: JudyPie