Tina's Cookin' bakes up business

It only took Bud and Tina Gray four months to fall in love and get married. Twenty-seven years later, they’re more than just partners in life; they’re business partners in their home start-up, Tina’s Cookin’.

On a typical Thursday night for the duo, Tina dons a colorful printed apron as she measures and mixes her magic in the kitchen while Bud sits tall on a stool at the table in the next room sporting a bright green shirt with the brand logo as he tapes labels to pie boxes. The smell of cinnamon and fall flavors permeates through the Winter Park home that’s been transformed into a nightly bakery.

“She does the real magic,” said Bud, 58. “It’s tricky because we’re very proud of this and it took us months to come up with the original recipes.”

Hoping to make pie more of a daily staple item, Tina’s embraced her upbringing in Brazil to foster her love for baking with wholesome ingredients to create buttery, fruit-filled concoctions that might just remind you of something your grandmother used to make.

“Baking is my favorite because you go through the process; you create something,” said Tina, who’s been involved in the craft for 36 years. “And when I see the end of my product, I get very excited.”

The business started in June, and sales commenced in September at local farmers markets and by door delivery.

Bud said people think to pick up the phone to order pizza, but their efforts are changing that mindset to crave a different kind of pie.

“We’re trying to provide a service that’s not out there right now,” Bud said. “We drive farther than most pizza places, and we go farther to deliver a pie.”

Seven days a week, the couple offers next-day delivery, right to your door, if you live locally. Special oven-to-door hot pie deliveries are available Mondays and Tuesdays.

Bud said the homemade taste is what makes repeat customers.

“It’s just so rewarding to create a product, present it to the public and have them accept it the way they’ve been accepting it,” he said. “Money aside, it’s just fun.”

The secret to their culinary success is simplicity, as Tina takes it back to her roots of using butter, not margarine, to sculpt her flaky, decorative crust.

“We’re making it just as healthy as we can, in the context of it being pie,” Bud said. “People pick up on that. When they bite into it they’re having an experience that’s different than the typical pie experience.”

While classic flavors like blueberry, peach, apple and cherry remain to be the most popular sellers, the duo is constantly seeking feedback and requests from customers.

A rusty log pie is in the works to accommodate those seeking a flavor more synonymous with the cooler months.

Other than a classic pie size, Tina’s Cookin’ adds variety with pie sticks, which offers a fluffier fare, and mini pies that are chock-full of fruit.

The two have distinct roles in the business, and Bud said working with his wife is serious business.

“She has really high standards for cleanliness,” he said. “She’s like obsessed with it, so I have to be very careful when I go in the kitchen.”

While Tina is mostly hands-on in the kitchen, Bud ventures to customer’s doors and to the markets. He said he finds the most rewarding part to be interacting with people who buy the treats.

“It’s the strangest thing,” Bud said. Everyone likes to talk to my wife. Kids love her. I’m a bit of the opposite. I’m a little bit more of a grump, which is funny because I’m the one selling the pies at the market.”

Bud compares their dynamic to that of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, founder and co-founder of Apple, with one being more of the marketing person and the other focusing on the nuts and bolts of the business.

In this case though, a different kind of Apple is being served.