Hadley Bodell
Editor-in-Chief
Shay Longhurst moves her hand with practiced precision, gently adjusting the needle as she cares for a dying patient. Each motion is deliberate, her skills sharpened by years of tending to others.
But today, instead of a syringe, it’s a piping bag she grips tightly, her patient a Boston cream pie, her steady hand now attuned to every drop of frosting. Instead of a hospital room, she works in her cozy bakery in Chubbuck, her uniform now an apron that boasts Shay’s Pie Place’s logo and sweet slogan, “Let Us Bake You Happy.”
Owning a bakery was never her dream. For 25 years, Longhurst worked as a nurse in Pocatello hospice care. Over the past year and a half, though, Longhurst has opened and grown a pie business.
Longhurst entered the Pocatello Rotary Club’s Chocolate Lover’s Affair contest last year, providing over 800 pie samples when she was just a two-employee business. Shay’s Pie Place won, elevating the small company’s profile in town.
“I needed a supplement for kids’ sports, things like that, so I started doing pie more than just Thanksgiving,” said Longhurst. “I would bake pies for friends and family on the side. People would order and come pick up pies off my porch, but a day came where I needed to make a decision: either give up pie or my nursing career. The stars aligned, and I thought, I’m going to try.”
Shay’s Pie Place is filled with brownies, cheesecake, lemon bars, and dozens of pie flavors. Longhurst says the most popular pie flavor fluctuates, most often between strawberry rhubarb and key lime.
“I loved the Boston cream and the pumpkin,” said Kassie McKeown, a sophomore ASL major at ISU. “All of them looked delicious and, frankly, affordable.”
Longhurst also adopted a home-cooked meal program, which offers reasonably priced, nutritious take-home meals with a free mini pie every day. Customers come by to pick up meatloaf and mashed potatoes, chicken noodle soup, or enchiladas.
“I wanted to provide meals; I knew there was a need out there,” said Longhurst. “There are older folks who don’t want to cook anymore or college students who just want Mom’s cooking. It’s what I would’ve done as a mom, just so I didn’t have to grab pizza after practice every night.” The calendar of meals can be found on their social media and website, along with the physical calendar in-store.
Just like the long shifts and daily curveballs of a nursing career, Longhurst’s day-to-day as a baker is never boring. She gets to the bakery around 7 a.m. to ensure all pre-order products are ready for pickup. She and her small team of four employees then work to fill all the pies and get the lunch meal ready.
“Then, it’s my favorite part of the day where I get to be creative,” said Longhurst. “I can revamp a pie, mess with a recipe, or find something new to try.”
Longhurst often tends to multiple desserts at a time, running from the oven to the decorating table and up to the register to sell a dessert to a customer. Her days at the shop end around 5 p.m., though the bookwork and back-end tasks of running a business often occupy her nights at home.
Longhurst grew up eating her mom’s homemade pies, many of which she still bakes and sells today. The other treats in her shop are most often online recipes that she has altered.
“My bread is my dad’s recipe that he grew up baking,” explained Longhurst. “It’s a running joke in my family when I say I found a recipe online, they say, ‘No, we want to know how you did it, tell us what you changed!’”
She obviously loves baking, but Longhurst is here for the community impact her business has accomplished in its short 18-month life.
“I’ve met so many cool people in the last year and a half, I want to know everyone’s stories that walk through the door,” said Longhurst. “It’s fun to be able to give back in a way and provide a safe space for our community.”
Longhurst hosts learn-to-bake-pie classes, whether it’s for a birthday party, girl’s night, or date night. Shay’s recently leased the space behind the bakery and plans to expand the event room there in the next couple of weeks.
“Working here is great, I really love the people,” said Shay’s employee Susanna Potter, an ISU freshman psychology major. “The atmosphere is so welcoming, so open and loving.”
Five years ago, she never saw herself as a successful business owner. Now, Longhurst smiles as one of her regulars walks into the shop for his nightly key lime pie.
“I was working so many hours and working so hard for somebody else’s benefit,” she said. “I wondered, what if I tried to do that for me?”
Learn more information at shayspieplace.company.site and find them at shayspieplace on Instagram and Facebook.
