When Voahangy Rasetarinera began The Giving Pies seven years ago out of her San Jose home kitchen, her mini pies became an instant hit with Stanford University students. Then corporate buyers like Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon soon starting scooping them up, too.
The companies ordered pies in the hundreds to the low thousands.
So when another Silicon Valley giant – a representative from Tesla – called her on Valentine’s Day asking for 2,000 mini pies, Rasetarinera knew that she and her team could deliver. The Tesla rep asked for the pies to be ready for delivery on Feb. 20 and Feb. 22, said Rasetarinera.
The next day, complications arose around the payment, and Rasetarinera became worried. Later that night, at around 9 o’ clock, however, the Tesla representative called to double the order to 4,000 mini pies, making the order among the largest ever handled by The Giving Pies, a fixture in the Willow Glen neighborhood since 2017.
On Feb 16, Rasetarinera sent the revised invoice, asking for payment by noon, and the representative said she had “requested approval” by 11 a.m.
When payment didn’t arrive, Rasetarina called but got no answer. Shortly after, the rep texted to tell her the order was canceled.
The sudden change left her “reeling,” she said, comparing the move to a “break up … by text.”
In order to fulfill the order, Rasetarinera had redirected staff to work Saturday and Sunday, and began buying special vegan ingredients and making pie crusts. She even turned down other orders. Between the ingredients and the time of her staff, the cancellation cost The Giving Pies some $2,000, according to the owner.
The following week, she shared her story on social media in hopes others would understand the impact of the cancellation. “I wanted Tesla to understand that it’s not just frivolous: it’s people’s lives that they are affecting and especially in this economy,” she said.
The outpouring of support and attention that followed shocked her, with other small businesses offering to help sell any extra pies and community members sharing messages of solidarity.
“What pies do you need to sell before they go bad. I’ll sell them at our store. I’ll market them for you… We are all in this together!!” said Tony & Alba’s Pizza and Pasta in a Facebook comment.
“It’s been incredible to see how much people care, how much they wanna help. It seems overwhelming — my head was spinning,” Rasetarinera said.
The phone line at The Giving Pies now goes to a message which warns customers that pies are selling out following the outpouring of support.
After the growing attention, Tesla reached out to The Giving Pies, Rasetarina said. She said the company told her that the rep had no authority to make the order and later offered to provide her another opportunity to make over 3,000 pies for events in early March. However, as of Thursday evening, that order had not yet been confirmed.
Late Friday morning, Elon Musk himself replied in a tweet. “Just hearing about this. Will make things good with the Bakery. People should always be able to count on Tesla trying its best.,” he said.
No matter what happens at the end, Rasetarinera says that the story is a testament to the resilience of small business and hopes that others know that they can speak up. “As small as we are compared to them. We still have a voice and we still can say something, you know, that’s the beauty of everything that happened,” she said.
