Grand Traverse Pie Company in Troy, MI

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Our Mission

Warming hearts and community through pie.

The Grand Traverse Pie Company was founded in 1996 by Mike and Denise Busley in Traverse City, Michigan. The original shop is still operated by Mike and Denise. It strives to set the example and serve as the model from which all other Grand Traverse Pie Company shops evolve. The original Traverse City shop has been featured both regionally and nationally as a premier destination for great pies, which can now be shipped directly to you

Our Values

Quality: Exceeding the expectations of our guests every day.
Warmth: Making our guests feel welcome and comfortable during each visit.
Integrity: Doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do.
Passion: Loving what I do and working hard to be my best.
Inspired: Surpassing what is allowed with what WOWS.
Teamwork: Sharing together, working together, succeeding together.

How We Started

You might know the story of the Grand Traverse Pie Company Mike and Denise Busley, in the mid-1990s, approaching their 40s, living in San Diego. Had two young kids, a beautiful home, successful careers in the defense industry and medical sales. Living the dream, right?

No. Something was missing, says Mike. Inner satisfaction. Purpose. Passion. That all changed the day the Busley family wandered into Julian Pie Co. in Julian, California, and struck by the cozy, warm shop and thriving business started dreaming of a pie business of their own.

Actually, no. Correction. That all changed the day Mike Busley walked back into Julian Pie Company with a business plan and asked the owner to teach them everything she knew and she said yes.

We'd never owned a business, never been in the food business, never even made a pie, says Mike Busley.

Not only did Liz Smothers say yes, over the course of several weeks, she trained the couple in every task in her shop. She even gave them her famous apple pie recipe.

And when the Busleys quit their jobs, packed up their family and risked everything they had to open their own pie company in Traverse City, Smothers came out to TC for three weeks to help them set up. (Not coincidentally, the kitchen layout of the original GT Pie Co. store on West Front Street mirrors one of Smothers shop kitchens.)

What would possess the owner of a successful business, with two shops of her own and pies sold all around the country, to take on two novices with a dream, give them her recipes, her trade secrets and techniques and not view them as a threat? Or at the very least, charge them a hefty franchise fee?

I don't know, says Smothers, now 74 years old and still at the helm of the Julian Pie Company. I had a good feeling about them.

Smothers was in TC yesterday. On a round-the-Great Lakes road trip to a class reunion in Kansas with her sister-in-law and a girlfriend, she paid a visit to the Busleys second pie shop in TC the couple s 17th GT Pie Co. shop in the Midwest.

I'm so proud of Mike and Denise, she says, looking around the bustling Park St. eatery and beaming. I'm telling you, it's just been a wonderful relationship over the years.

Though Smothers has been back to TC only a handful of times since helping the Busleys begin, she says they keep in close touch: I ll call to pick Mike's brain about this or that, he does the same. We lean on each other.

Looking back, she wouldn't have it any other way. Oh, it was fun, she says. I loved it. Nothing more fun than making a living at what you want to do. Nothing, maybe, except helping somebody else do the same.

Made in Michigan

At the Grand Traverse Pie Co. we make it a priority to do business with local businesses and organizations. After all, we want to be a responsible piece of the community. The people who work at these businesses are also our customers and friends!

Our first shop was opened in Traverse City, which is why we support so many Michigan businesses, growers, and organizations. Michigan has seen some difficult times in recent years, but the people of this beautiful state are both resilient and productive. Better days are ahead and they start now!

Every cherry, apple, and blueberry used in our pies are grown by Michigan farmers. We believe it s important to support our local agriculture. We also feel that the fruit grown in Michigan is among the very best, that s why we put it in our pies!

In 2008, we opened our own Dough Facility in Traverse City, MI, in response to our desire to provide a more quality product to our customers. All of the products used for our dough are bought in Michigan, and our facility employs several people from right in the backyard of our first pie shop.

We're very proud to be associated with local partners in Michigan as well as in Indiana. The list on the right is a sample of those relationships and our commitment.