Kenny’s Great Pies—A Sweet Success
By Michael D. Haberman
Being an entrepreneur is all about passion and Kenny
Burts is passionate about his company and his products!
Being an entrepreneur is also about being able to over-
come adversity and Kenny has had plenty of that. Finally,
being an entrepreneur is about being an optimist and Kenny
has always been that.
Fascinating story
I first met Kenny Burts, the founder and CEO of Kenny’s
Great Pies (originally Key Lime, Inc.), in 1992, three years af-
ter the company was founded. Kenny and his father, Ransom
Burts, the CFO, were making a presentation to a group of
potential advisors at the local chamber of commerce. I liked
him and I liked his product. The assistance that I thought
I could provide him was something that all small business
owners could use, typically much earlier than they realize. I
could help him deal with human resources issues. He thought
so too, and 25 years later I still provide him guidance on how
to best manage and retain his workforce.
Kenny’s story
Kenny was the manager of a bar in suburban Atlanta, but
he had bigger aspirations than that. He was making key lime
pies in his apartment from his grandmother’s recipe. She had
key lime trees on her property in south Florida and Kenny
thought the taste was magical. He started taking the pies to
the bar to let customers get a taste and one of the custom-
ers worked for growing restaurant chain. The customer told
Kenny that the pie was so good the restaurant would buy what
he made. Voilà, a business was born. Initially packing pies into
his car to deliver to the chain, the word got out about how
good they were and demand picked up.
The first big step was moving out of the apartment and
into a 3000-square-foot commercial kitchen in a small indus-
trial building in Smyrna, Georgia. Some of the challenges I
worked on dealt with making sure they were compliant with
all the necessary employment laws. Kenny was dedicated to
Kenny Burts and a key lime tree, 1989 , Miami-Coral Gables, FL.
10 July 2017
providing his employees a good living and, in return, they
were dedicated to him. Discovering that some of his employ-
ees did not have the proper documentation to be working
in the US, Kenny went through the effort to sponsor these
workers. His efforts paid off in spades and earned him a loyal
workforce.
As Kenny’s Key Lime pies kept winning award after award
for their quality and taste, the company kept growing. They
needed more space, eventually taking over all 18,000 square
feet of the building they were in. With the growth they were
experiencing, 18,000 square feet was not enough, so they
bought and renovated a 33,000-square-foot building, making
it a state of the art food production facility. Kenny is very
detail-oriented and he took painstaking steps to ensure that
the building was going to meet his needs, all the while making
sure the company ran efficiently.
Challenges presented themselves along the way, as
happens with all companies. Trying to hire a management
team that had the same vision and same passion was, at times,
difficult. Not every employee got excited about pies. To some
it was just a job, but eventually a team was put together. Then,
the economy took a tumble.
Recession
A recession and a high-end dessert product don’t mix
well. When money is in short supply, diners often forego des-
sert, or share, both of which reduce sales. Kenny and his team
worked hard at trying to be creative so they could keep the
doors open. They found other things they could do to keep
sales up. They even made macaroni and cheese for a pizza
chain to put on the children’s menu. Thankfully, they were
successful enough to keep the doors open and the workers
employed. Then, personal adversity hit.
Personal challenges
Just as things looked like they would stabilize, Kenny
found out he had a life-threatening disease. It required major
surgery and down time for him, though Kenny doesn’t really