Inspiring Conversations with Tiffany Oppelt of TheraPie

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tiffany Oppelt

Hi Tiffany, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
For Tiffany Oppelt (Owner of TheraPie) always being a foodie with a heart for hospitality, in 2017, some stress baking became part of her after-work routine and it focused on perfecting her pie recipe from her Grandma Thera. As she went deeper down the pie-fan-girl rabbit hole, she started looking for great pies in Manhattan and found the market to be severely lacking. As she kept creating new pie recipes, she quickly had enough pie to share with others. She started attending Farmer’s Markets to build a customer base and went to work (on the side still) on the pie dream. She worked to develop a business plan, convinced her husband to sell their home to move to a new one where she could design and build a commercial kitchen, and in 2019 TheraPie was born. The kitchen was licensed in March of 2020 (right as Covid began) which pivoted things to no contact delivery, a massive reliance on social media for reach and a user-friendly website. As TheraPie grew to reach lots of new customers, she was able to hire team members and continue to work on moving towards her dream of having a pie shop. On Pi(e) Day in March of 2023, the team opened TheraPie’s storefront location in Downtown Manhattan Kansas at 106 S 4th St. Their goal is always to bring really great pie to the area, connect people and support other small businesses, be a friendly community-minded business, and be a wonderful place to work. In June of 2024, a new kitchen was built above the storefront, allowing the team to move out of the basement kitchen and operating two separate kitchens across town.
Today, there are 11 incredible team members who are passionately bringing these goals to fruition and driving the business towards future success. TheraPie is active in the community with donations and support, a cozy spot for people to stop in and enjoy delicious from-scratch pie and other foods, and partners with other local businesses to make Manhattan a more vibrant community. We invited Hungry Chickpea, a mindful eating and health focused business to join the storefront in May of 2024 and it’s been an incredible partnership. Hungry Chickpea is Black & Woman Owned and provides incredible sandwiches, soups, salads and offers catering services. Another awesome partnership is with Auntie Mae’s Lounge, a bar in Aggieville, where we do a monthly event: Pie & Cocktails. This monthly sell-out event gives ticket holders 3 slices of pie (usually new recipes) that are paired with 3 custom cocktails. It is such a fun event!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t always been a smooth road. We first faced the obstacles of building a commercial kitchen in the home and jumping through all the codes and ordinances required to do so and finding the access to the capital required to do so. Licensing one week before Covid overtook the world added another challenge, as we were a brand-spanking-new business who relied on community events (like the Farmer’s Market) for sales. This required a very quick creation of website, creating a strong online presence, finding a way to offer no-contact delivery, and working around the unknowns of Covid. One of our next hurtles was making the transition into a brick and mortar. We needed additional access to capital to expand and we were teetering on that fine line of having what it takes to take an additional leap, rent and availability for small business spaces, and the rising cost of food with inflation.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about TheraPie?
We are a local from-scratch pie bakery located in Downtown Manhattan, KS. Our mission is to connect our community to share in the joy and memories created only the way enjoying delicious-made by hand-high quality pie can. Even though we know how to bake other items, our specialty is pie. We believe in doing what you love and doing it really well, so you’ll find a wide variety of sweet and savory pies on our menu. We are known for our flaky crust and delicious flavors, some of them being a little “out there”. Our bakers look at an item and say “but could it be pie?” and then it becomes something deliciously fun and new! Our Chicken Parm, Heirloom Tomato, and Biscuit & Gravy Pies are 3 of our most popular savories. Our Grandma’s Apple, French Silk, and Key Lime are 3 of our most popular sweet pies.
Beyond our niche of pies and the way we work to create them, we feel that the way we show up and human sets us apart. We work really hard to provide a positive work environment for our team, give back to our community, and support other local start-ups by displaying makers and artists in our space on a rotation. One of our favorite ways to donate are to True Love (a LGBTQ+ Youth Non-Profit) and Be Able (a Non-Profit for connecting our adult neighbors with the resources they need) and making the crusts for 75+ pies for the Community Christmas Dinner annually.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I’ve always viewed myself as risk-averse, putting a lot of thought into each decision before taking a leap. One of the largest lessons I’ve learned through entrepreneurship is to “do it scared”. Running a business is incredibly hard and risks are involved daily. The way we show up, the items we invest in, the people we impact, the team that counts on us for their livelihood, and the daily unknowns with the direction of our country provides risk taking opportunities daily. I once received a “Nutrition Facts for Entrepreneurship” wall hanging. It had Grit 1000%, Hard work 100%, and so on, but it said Fear 0%. I would edit that to say Fear 1000%, but you do it anyway. You care so much about the work that you are doing and the impact you have in other people’s lives that you learn how to live with fear, 1000% percent of the time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://therapiellc.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/therapie.llc
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/therapie.llc
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@therapie_mhk