For more than a century, Hubig’s Pies has been a beloved New Orleans tradition—a flaky, fruit-filled symbol of nostalgia. After a fire in 2012 forced the bakery to close, the community waited patiently for its return. Now, Hubig’s is once again baking up its signature hand pies and reconnecting generations of fans. We sat down with third-generation owner Drew Ramsey and brand manager (and Drew’s wife) Kathleen Ramsey to talk about the company’s history, its remarkable comeback, and what it means to serve New Orleans once again.
Can you share a little bit about the history of Hubig’s Pies and how it became such a staple in New Orleans?
Kathleen: Simon Hubig was a real man—that’s something I actually didn’t know until we started digging into the history. He had one of the first big electric food manufacturing facilities in the early 1900s, which was quite an innovation for a small business at that time. His electric pie business even made headlines in 1918 in Fort Worth, [Texas,] and that company expanded to New Orleans in 1921. Back then, it was considered a huge selling point that pies were made by machine. Today, people brag about “homemade-style” pies, but in the early 1900s, machine-made meant clean, modern, and cutting-edge.
Drew, you’re a third-generation owner, right? How did the business fall into your hands?
Drew: Yes, that’s right. My grandfather ran the business before my dad and then I followed in their footsteps. I grew up around it and worked there even as a kid—sometimes when there was a catastrophe or we were short-staffed, my brother and I would get called in to help with production, even if it was just sweeping floors. So, when I say I’ve been involved since grade school, I mean it. After I finished school, I worked in every department—production, sales, maintenance, clerical—even driving the delivery truck down Highway 90 at 5 a.m. I was working there at the time of the 2012 fire. It wasn’t a hard decision to rebuild; this business is just part of who I am. But of course, there were a lot of obstacles along the way.
What kinds of obstacles did you face during the rebuilding process?
Kathleen: There were so many, both logistical and emotional. Drew: Logistically, our original bakery was in the Marigny neighborhood—a no-truck route, densely populated, no parking, no ADA bathrooms, no loading zone. We’d been grandfathered in as the area developed around us. So, rebuilding on that site wasn’t really feasible. We salvaged everything we could after the fire—cleaned, stored, and refurbished whatever might be useful again. At first, I wanted to rebuild right there, but eventually, it became clear that wasn’t possible. Everyone we met with had good intentions, but most people didn’t really understand what a facility like ours required. Finding the right location was a long process.
Were there any interesting discoveries during that process?
Kathleen: Definitely. A lot of our old equipment was antique and specially fitted for us, and one of the most amazing things we managed to save was the original pie-cutting head. It was ruined in the fire, but Drew had it retrofitted by engineers and metallurgists—a huge feat that became a key step in bringing Hubig’s back. Drew: Right. The guy who helped rebuild the cutting head actually has a PhD in metallurgy—something I didn’t even know existed before this. It really was trial and error—we literally had to reinvent the wheel. The cutting head forms the half-moon shape of the pie, and we were determined that the new pies would be identical to the originals in every way possible. It took years to make that a reality.
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