Maree Glading and Jessie Stanley, also known as the Lovely Little Food Company, are the powerhouse duo behind I LOVE PIES. From humble beginnings at the Clevedon Farmers’ Market in 2008, I LOVE PIES has expanded vastly – and are now stocked in supermarkets, gourmet food stores and butcheries across New Zealand. Glading and Stanley founded I LOVE PIES in order to cater to Kiwi’s love of pies, which the pair believe is often underwhelmed by other offerings and options. The Clevedon Farmers’ Market was a testing ground – Glading and Stanley continued to refine and reinvent flavours until they found true crowd favourites which became the foundation of their tried and trusted list of flavours.
The product line is diverse – I LOVE PIES offer sweet and savoury options based on classic Kiwi favourites. Using fresh New Zealand ingredients, the pies are all made by hand, and offer great nutrition and taste, something which their consumers do not want to compromise on. Never ones to rest on their laurels, I LOVE PIES have expanded, first with their sausage rolls, then creating their I LOVE BAKING brand, which sells a range of cookies. Continuing to live by the nutritious, home-made ethos of I LOVE PIES, their cookies use twenty percent less refined sugar than others on the market – instead using date puree, a healthier alternative. The key to Glading and Stanley’s home-made approach is only using ingredients they would keep in their own pantries, instead of using ingredients such as palm oil or MSG, which are used in other commercial cookies.
The pair have recently launched their I Love Baking brand, and celebrated the release of a range of cookies with only the best ingredients that everyone in the family will love.
I LOVE PIES has been announced as the new official pie stocked at Eden Park. Glading and Stanley are Mt Eden locals, so seeing their pies sold at the iconic venue was a milestone for the company. Expansion is already occurring rapidly, with I LOVE PIES being stocked in Australia and parts of Asia, but Glading and Stanley continue to look further afield, as well as for other stockists within New Zealand.
