A little over two years since it first opened in Berkeley, popular bakery Pie Society is saying goodbye. Angela Pinkerton, a James Beard Award-winning pastry chef who once worked at Eleven Madison Park, started baking “grandma-style” pies when she found herself out of work in 2020. Pie Society quickly grew in popularity with pop-ups across the Bay Area, and moved into a commercial kitchen in Berkeley that fall.
This week, Pinkerton shared the news on Instagram that she had decided to wind down business at Pie Society. SFGATE could not reach Pinkerton for comment in time for publication.
“My decision to close, may be a bit bittersweet but all my own,” she wrote in a separate post on her personal Instagram. “Nothing bad has happened to trigger this decision. The time is just right, for me.”
March will be Pie Society’s last regular month at the Berkeley headquarters, although in April it will also remain open for walk-in purchases and order pickups on Saturdays only through April 22, the bakery said.
Pinkerton told the San Francisco Chronicle that she decided to close for personal reasons — her one-year lease is coming to an end, and she needed a break. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.) In the future, she’s considering opening a candy shop called Pinkerton Confectionery and teaching pie classes, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
This won’t be the end of Pinkerton’s passion fruit bay leaf meringue or walnut pecan bourbon chocolate pies, though. She shared on Instagram that she’ll continue to hold pop-ups and online sales through the summer. She’ll also still be subleasing space at the Berkeley commercial kitchen, she just won’t be the primary tenant anymore, according to East Bay Nosh.
“From the bottom of my heart, I say thank you for your friendship and support Society,” Pinkerton wrote on Instagram. “… I started Pie Society, really on a whim, with the idea of bringing some fun, and comfort to the community during our unpredictable early pandemic days. A whim and an Instagram post later, your response changed our lives, gave us purpose, and work, when there seemed to be little.”
Pie Society, 2533 Seventh St., Berkeley. Open Thursday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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