Four years after selling her wildly successful Gigi’s Cupcakes chain of bakeries and a few months after closing her original Gigi’s location in Midtown, Gina Butler’s entrepreneurial spirit has risen again with the opening of her latest venture, Pies by Gigi at 330 Franklin Road in Brentwood. You’ll see more details of her path to renewal in this week’s print edition of the Scene, but Butler’s official opening yesterday is news you can use.
Pies By Gigi will operate from 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. With those hours, it’s no surprise that the menu features items that are appropriate for all three meals of the day, from biscuits, muffins and scones in the morning to casseroles and pies (both sweet and savory) available for dining in or carryout. A coffee and tea bar serves specialty drinks, and a small mercantile section of the shop will offer other Gigi’s-branded products and fun sundries. (Fundries?)
The official ribbon cutting won’t take place until 11 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 9, in a ceremony that is open to the public with social distancing and mask requirements in place. To commemorate the occasion, Pies by Gigi has partnered with GraceWorks Ministries, a Williamson County nonprofit that provides food, clothing and financial assistance to those in need, and has pledged to donate 10 percent of the day’s receipts to the charity.
Even though the oven doors are officially open, Pies by Gigi is still looking for employees to fill front-of-house and back-of-house positions. For additional hiring information and to sign up for the store’s mailing list, visit the Pies By Gigi website, and be sure to follow the restaurant on Instagram and Facebook.
Stay tuned later this week to learn more about Butler’s fascinating story of ascent from cleaning celebrities’ houses to running a successful corporation that earned her an appearance on Undercover Boss to watching the decline of her former empire under new ownership. The next chapter of her story could prove to be quite interesting as well.
