Baking has always been one of Ruth Anne
Schriefer's foremost passions.

Growing up having free range in the kitchen gave her
room to experiment with any new recipe she could
find using her four brothers as taste-testers.

But enjoying Ruth Anne's tasty creations usually
resulted in one of her family members cleaning up
the mess left behind.

Ruth Anne learned traditional German-Mennonite
recipes from her grandmother who would use the
palm of her hand or a coffee cup to measure 
ingredients.

Ruth Anne's love and pride for Niagara fruit 
developed during her teens, as she helped out on 
her parent's small fruit farm. She still insists there
isn't a better breakfast experience than walking out

in the cool morning dew to pick a juicy ripe peach from the tree to slice on your Corn 
Flakes. 

Ruth Anne's culinary skills were honed as she often opted to leave the orchard 
early to prepare supper for her family of seven, which would inevitably include a delicious
fruit pie for dessert. 

During this time she also worked as a bus girl at a restaurant in
Niagara-on-the-Lake. 

It was there that the idea of making fresh fruit pies first came to her after being instructed
to tell tourist customers that the frozen Sara Lee pies she microwaved and served with
ice cream were in fact homemade. 

Ruth Anne choose not to insult the intelligence of customers and spoke only the truth. The
response was emphatic, "But you live in the fruit belt of Canada and we have just driven
through the bountiful orchards. Do you know where we can get something baked with the
local fruit?"

Six years later, Ruth Anne provided the answer by baking her own pies and selling them
door to door. She also persuaded the roadside farm markets to carry fresh fruit tarts for
the tour buses. It wasn't long before Ruth Anne had orders coming in from local restaurants
as well. 

Later that fall, she married and moved to California. Her mother phoned in the spring to
tell her about the influx of phone calls from people wanting to order her pies, wondering
who had taken over the business.

Three years later, Ruth Anne and her family returned to her hometown of Virgil, having 
never stopped baking for her family and friends. 

When a new family moved in next door, she invited them over for coffee and dessert, which
was, of course, apple crumble pie. It turned out that neighbour just so happened to be the
new chef at a local winery restaurant. He liked her pies so much he featured it on the 
dessert menu: "Ruth Anne's Home Made Niagara Fruit Pie." This same chef was a great
encouragement in making the decision to pursue the opening of The Pie Plate Bakery
& Café.


TOP OF PAGE