Three years ago when Dawn Urrutia wanted to start a nonprofit to help children in the Louisville community, she never imagined she would find the answer in sweet potato pies.

“My goal was to start a nonprofit to offer free books to young children,” she explains, “but I realized I needed a revenue stream.” The homemade sweet potato pies she made for family and friends were wellknown and an easy fundraiser. When the first event sold out, she knew she was on to something and Georgia’s Sweet Potato Pie Company was born.

“I realized that I didn’t need to be a nonprofit, I just needed to be a good business with a love-filled mission,” says Urrutia, who named the company after her grandmother, Georgia, a woman who “was a lover of all people.” And while most people recognize the business as a supplier of delicious sweet potato products, Urrutia explains the food is just a vehicle to distribute books through a project called Pies With Purpose.

“I want Georgia’s Sweet Potato Pie Company and Pies with Purpose to be all that my grandmother stands for: love,” she says. “And I want the children of our community to read books supporting love, inclusion, acceptance and diversity.”

In the past three years, Urrutia has distributed hundreds of books, about 80% purchased from profits and the rest donated from the community. Initially, books were for infants and young children, but since online school started because of COVID, requests have flooded in for young adult chapter books.

Creating community partnerships has been a fun part of building the business, according to Urrutia. Elizabeth Kizito, owner of Kizito Cookies, helped create and handles the baking of Sweet Potato Chocolate Chips cookies for Urrutia and Louisville Cream has invented a Sweet Potato Pie Ice Cream. These products and others are sold on Georgia’s Sweet Potato Pie Company’s website and locations listed in sidebar.

And while Georgia is the inspiration, the business is a family affair, including Urrutia’s husband and co-owner, Deyago; their son, Demetri, who works full-time for the company; and cousins Christin Davis and Donnez Porter, who help manage the farmers’ markets during the summer.

As the company expands, plans are set for Georgia’s Sweet Potato Pie Company to open a retail space on National Pie Day — January 23, 2021 — at 1559 Bardstown Rd. in Louisville. Included in the space will be a library for children to receive free books.

“We want a safe space for families to bring children to get a book,” says Urrutia, who with her family lives the company motto: “Live. Laugh. Love. Eat Pie.”

WHERE TO FIND
 

Retail location opening Jan. 23, 2021
1559 Bardstown Rd., Louisville

PRODUCTS ALSO AVAILABLE AT:
 

All Rainbow Blossom stores
RainbowBlossom.com

Galaxie Bar
GalaxieBar.com

McQuixote Books & Coffee:
Mcquixote.com

Bardstown Road Farmers’ Market
1722 Bardstown Rd., Louisville

St. Matthews Farmers’ Market
(May-September)

Order online at 
 

GeorgiasSweets.com
502.724.4922