{"id":30550,"date":"2024-06-12T13:22:19","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T17:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/?p=30550"},"modified":"2025-12-22T13:34:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T18:34:04","slug":"teaching-skills-and-changing-lives-one-pie-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/ideas\/teaching-skills-and-changing-lives-one-pie-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Ense\u00f1ando Habilidades y Cambiando Vidas, un Pastel a la Vez"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s as easy as pie to convince guests to try dessert \u2013 if you know the secret. Pies from Special Touch Bakery are a delicious way to finish any meal, and their secret ingredient is love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Foodservice operators love <a href=\"https:\/\/www.specialtouchbakery.org\/\">Special Touch Bakery<\/a> pies for their easy-prep simplicity. Customers love the pies for their dreamy flavor. But the love comes full circle when people learn the story behind the pies.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s that story that makes the bakery a great partner for the Gordon Food Service <a href=\"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/products\/goodfinds\/?lsd=rsm_greatlakes_lakespmax&amp;utm_medium=x&amp;utm_source=google-paid&amp;utm_campaign=rsm_greatlakes_greatlakespmax_cl&amp;utm_term=&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwyJqzBhBaEiwAWDRJVNkqsq_7yYM0y1b59DID8e6F7KP4iXEByuykfydhTClZc9KfkI6PGRoCHWgQAvD_BwE\">Goodfinds by Gordon<\/a> program, which celebrates food that not only tastes good but does good for people and the planet.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 20,000-square-foot bakery in Rochester, New York, offers meaningful employment to people of all abilities. They are hired and trained through a collaboration between the bakery and Holy Childhood, a nondenominational vocational program focused on helping people facing life challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA baker is a baker, and that\u2019s it,\u201d President and CEO of Special Touch Bakery CEO Donna Dedee said when describing the company\u2019s team. \u201cWe are not defining people because they may have different abilities, we\u2019re celebrating everyone\u2019s unique abilities, and that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-everyone-is-a-pie-baker-at-heart\">Everyone Is a Pie Baker at Heart<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The pastries are as close as you get to the love baked into grandma\u2019s holiday pies. The formula has been so successful that today Special Touch Bakery not only works closely with Holy Childhood but also connects with other habilitative agencies and school programs in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bakery employs 35 people, with almost another 20 in some form of vocational training to prepare them for competitive employment. With an unwavering commitment to believing everyone, disabled or non, deserves a chance to showcase their abilities, the bakery is proud of its diverse workforce.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each team member is recognized as a baker and cross-trained to perform just about every aspect of the production process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMaybe they start out cleaning pans or in the mixing room, and then they come out to the pie line,\u201d Dedee said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to provide diverse experiences, and the people we refer to as bakers have done every job in the facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team takes such pride in its tasks that when Dedee pitches in during a busy time, \u201cthey always tell me I\u2019m doing it wrong. They take great pride in their work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-large-selection-of-pies\">A Large Selection of Pies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>And their effort pays off. Last year, the bakery produced 1.8 million pies focused on six categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Gourmet fruit pies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Natural juice pies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Traditional pies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sugar-free pies&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Dessert pies&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cream pies&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>All of the pies come frozen. The fruit pies are ready to bake, while the cream pies and the dessert pies are as simple as thaw-and-serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty diverse portfolio. The sweet spots are our natural juice pies and cream pies,\u201d said Mike Mirabella, the company\u2019s vice president of sales. \u201cWe have all of the common pies, plus some unique flavors that separate us from our competitors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every pie that comes with a pastry top also is available as a crumb top, making them an artisan product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-pie-bakery-with-humble-beginnings\">A Pie Bakery With Humble Beginnings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The roots of Special Touch Bakery reach back to the middle of the 20th century when Holy Childhood opened its doors to help people struggling to cope with challenges. Its purpose was to nurture skills and prepare people for jobs in adulthood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By 1982, Holy Childhood launched a pie-baking activity that became so popular among families and friends during its first year that a naming contest was held, resulting in Special Touch Bakery pies that were sold to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fast-forward a few decades and many pie flavors, and Special Touch Bakery moved into its current wholesale production building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve always been nimble in wanting to meet customer needs, and when Gordon Food Service told us we would be included in the Goodfinds program, it said to me we were doing some things right,\u201d Dedee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-partner-focused-on-doing-good\">A Partner Focused on Doing Good<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Special Touch Bakery not only provides opportunities for people with special needs, but it also gets involved in the community. There have been fundraisers and collaborations, such as working with a local retail doughnut company to use pie fillings in the doughnuts.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unique events aside, Special Touch Bakery is strictly a pie company, focused on doing what it does best. There are no pie-in-the-skydreams of cakes or cookies or other confections. But when it comes to pies, the bakery is developing a new flavor profile expected to be released during the fall and winter holiday season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe pride ourselves on being a partner with the organizations we work with,\u201d Dedee said. \u201cWe\u2019re not everything to everybody, so we are pretty strategic about who we partner with, and our values align with Gordon Food Service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mirabella agrees: \u201cWe are really doing something special here, and the name speaks to that.\u201d<br><br>But the name leaves out one big part of the story. For its workers, Special Touch Bakery isn\u2019t just a 9-to-5 job. It\u2019s about building skills and creating meaningful and enjoyable opportunities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The special ingredient: a labor of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shop <a href=\"https:\/\/order.gfs.com\/search?searchText=139123%20139124%20139125%20139127%20139128%20166807%20166808%20167167%20185589%20185593%20188057%20188059%20188063%20188064%20188065%20188066%20188067%20858133%20858271%20858281%20858297%20858303%20858312%20888325%20888328&amp;hst=true&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=may202433g_goodfinds_ithailianspringroll_hc_brands_comp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Special Touch Bakery<\/a> and learn more about other <a href=\"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/ideas\/goodfinds-by-gordon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Goodfinds by Gordon partners <\/a>to enhance your menu.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Special Touch Bakery creates artful and delicious pies while teaching intellectually and developmentally disabled people life skills.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":30551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsroom","category-running-your-business"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.9 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Teaching Skills and Changing Lives, One Pie at a Time | Gordon Food Service<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore an inspiring foodservice success story about teaching skills and changing lives. Discover how we supports community growth with quality ingredients.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/ideas\/teaching-skills-and-changing-lives-one-pie-at-a-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teaching Skills and Changing Lives, One Pie at a Time\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Explore an inspiring foodservice success story about teaching skills and changing lives. Discover how we supports community growth with quality ingredients.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/ideas\/teaching-skills-and-changing-lives-one-pie-at-a-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gordon Food Service\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-12T17:22:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-22T18:34:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/STB-Bakers.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"940\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"522\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah Roy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GFSDelivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GFSDelivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah Roy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Teaching Skills and Changing Lives, One Pie at a Time | Gordon Food Service","description":"Explore an inspiring foodservice success story about teaching skills and changing lives. 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