Gracie Santos Guce, a Seattle local, is serving up more than just delectable desserts with her rapidly growing business, grayseas pies. Guce, who never had much experience with baking before the pandemic, started making pies as a pastime during the lockdown and has watched her hobby bloom into a bustling enterprise. "It was an accident. People call me an accidental entrepreneur. Before the pandemic, I don’t think I ever baked a pie in my life," Guce told Bottom Line Seattle.
Beginning as an informal meal exchange among friends and family, the buzz around Guce's pies quickly spread. The turning point for Guce came after a friend invited her to participate in a pop-up event for a bakery named Dough Baby. The event showcased her talent and revealed the demand, "Then I thought, I could make other pies. This could be fun project," she recalled. To her surprise, all ten of her pies sold out within a mere 15 minutes. This unexpected success propelled her to take a leap of faith into the world of retail.
"All of a sudden there was a demand. Then Thanksgiving rolled around, and everybody wanted a pie. So here I am, three years later, still making pies," Guce said in the statement obtained by Bottom Line Seattle. What was once a means to kill time has now turned into a sought-after local sensation, with customers clamoring to get a slice of Guce's savory and sweet creations.
Guce's realization that her pies could turn a profit came gradually but has certainly paid off, "That’s when I realized there’s a demand here," she explains. "I think I can turn this into a business, even though that wasn’t the reason I started baking." Guce's tale is one of adaptability, a dash of entrepreneurial spirit, and the sweet, serendipitous success that can rise from humble beginnings - or in her case, a golden, flaky crust.
