KYLE, Texas — Kyle is home to a little over 49,000 people. Some have lived there their whole lives, while others are new in town.
Something else that's fairly new? Kyle's "Pie Capital of Texas" title.
"When some people think about the city of Kyle, they may think, since it's located about 30 minutes south of Austin, it's just a city you're passing through," said Julie Albertson, owner of the Texas Pie Company.
But Kyle is so much more than that. All you have to do is take a walk through its historic downtown and you'll see the charm. Then you'll get a whiff of something wonderful and you'll spot where the aroma is coming from.
"We're kind of the welcome wagon in Kyle because it's the first thing you see," Albertson said.
The Texas Pie Company is located on West Center Street and it's hard to miss, with the giant slice of pie on its roof. Albertson said customers consider the shop the beating heart of Downtown Kyle.
"Thirty years that I've been in this business, they'll drive all the way out to Kyle. So, it's nothing for us to see a line that wraps all the way around the block and back for Thanksgiving because people will come back," she said.
But how did Kyle become the state's pie capital? According to City Manager Jerry Hendrix, it all started with trying to give the city its own identity.
"We literally started pulling people off the street to see why they came into Kyle. And there was two reasons that they came into Kyle. One was because they knew somebody named Kyle and they wanted to get pictures in front of things that said 'Kyle' on them. And the other was for the Pie Company," Hendrix said.
"In 2016, we won 'Quest for Texas Best' with H-E-B, so our pie dough and our pie dough hooks are now in over 300 grocery stores throughout the state with H-E-B," Albertson said.
"So, that kind of gave us the launching point we needed. And then we started a number of initiatives here in Kyle to kind of expand on that brand," Hendrix said.
The city expanded big. On June 8, 2021, Gov. Greg Abbott signed SCR 22, which officially designated the City of Kyle as the "Pie Capital of Texas" – making businesses in Kyle "certi-pied."
"To be certi-pied, you have to come up with something for your customers to take home that's pie-related. So, a dentist will have the 'post pie,' which will be a toothbrush and toothpaste. That's your pie package," Albertson said.
"We actually have banks, we have fitness centers, we have every sector of business we have in Kyle has somebody in it that is certi-pied," Hendrix said.
So, whether you come to Kyle on the hunt for your favorite slice of pie or because you know someone named Kyle, the city wants visitors to have an easy-going and pie-sitively fun experience.
"It's just something very fun to do, that kind of take your mind off all the serious business that's going on," Albertson said. Because pie's really not serious. It's really not. It's fun. That's why they say it's 'easy as pie.' It's just an easy thing."
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