Award-winning cook's homemade pie shop set to open doors in Shropshire town

Pie maker David has previously worked in Michelin starred and rosetted restaurants across a 17-year-period while Emma is head of operations, with a wealth of knowledge in business.

The pair have built Martins up from a kitchen business at home, which won three stars at the Great Taste Awards this year, to a mini-manufacturing unit and will open up a new shop in Bridgewater Street, Whitchurch on Saturday, November 4.

Among the popular products at Martins is a steak and ale pie, produced with Wagyu Beef supplied by Shropshire-based Alternative Meats,

"Everything has led us to this point," David said. "The signage is up and it's all getting a bit real now.

"We felt that it was time to take the leap of faith and do this and we are looking forward to seeing new customers on our opening day."

"We are now kitting out the shop. It was initially going to be a production site but it has a good retail space at the front so the shop is becoming more a part of the business than it was going to be. I am excited about it. It's a great space to have.

"Most of what we do is wholesale because we batch cook, so sell to farm shops. That's our niche, doing the volume."

"But having the shop brings us into the community of Whitchurch and shows everyone what we are about. We are looking to get other local suppliers involved with us too, in order to highlight other quality products alongside ours."

The fact the business won three stars for its products at the Great Taste Awards is something, David says, has provided a real boost.

"It reaffirmed to me that we are good at what we do," he said. "We have a good strong product plus brand and colours."

"Moving forward, we are looking to supply hospitality as well and hopefully people will enjoy our good, honest food.

"As we get the range settled, we will expand into more vegan and vegetarian products.

"We need to grow our online store presence as well so we have a lot going on and hope we can bring in new customers

"Hopefully we will bring another culinary angle to Whitchurch and I think Emma and I work well together.

"We have a good skill-set between us which doesn't tread on each other's toes so in theory it will work really well. We're getting set up and are looking forward to being ready to go."

To find out more, visit https://www.martinspies.co.uk/about-us