How it all started

I run a small entertainment agency with a handful of agents in my office. Years ago, I wanted to devise an incentive program for them, but not a lot of money flows through the office, so it couldn’t involve a lot of cash. I settled on pie. I told the agents that whoever booked the most events over a two week period earned their choice of a homemade pie, which I would bake for them. I did not really think it would have much effect on their behavior, but I was amazed at the power of pie. Starting with the first period’s competition, agents were making every possible effort to win the pie race. They would email each other to check on their pie rankings, and work that much harder to book each event that came in. And the winner always shares the pie with everyone else in the office – there’s enough of us that this results in a slice or two per employee. So it’s really just bragging rights that they earn. Still, everyone wants to be the pie champion, each period. I started this program in August of 2007, and it’s still going strong. I rarely repeat a pie, and I’ve made well over a hundred pies since the program began. I’ve become a decent baker, and, very slowly, I've begun to experiment a little and to deviate from the recipes I work from. At this point, the pies are less of a motivational tactic and more of a tradition, and I enjoy the baking, and, even more so, the eating.  The pie above was an amaretto chocolate fudge pie with an amaretti crust - one of my favorites from last year.  It wasn't pretty, but man, it was good.