The pies are back. Marie Callender’s reopens Fresno restaurant after community response

An odd, if not totally unexpected thing happened when Marie Callender’s closed its Fresno restaurants last year.

The restaurant’s nearest location — on Mooney Boulevard in Visalia — was suddenly inundated with out-of-town customers looking to get their pie fix.

The location sold 5,000 more pies over the holiday season because of it.

“It’s become a tradition for a lot of people,” says Brian Gooch, regional director of operations for 1313 Restaurant Group, which is reopening a Marie Callender’s franchise location in Fresno on Friday.

The company reopened a Marie Callender’s in Modesto earlier this year.

Marie Callender’s announced it would be reopening the Fresno location — on Shaw and Cedar avenues across from Fresno State — in January.

20 different pies available, to-go only

Starting Friday, the restaurant will be selling to-go pies only. Gooch says he hopes it will be open with its full menu and seating by the end of the year, though it may do take-out only depending on COVID-19 restrictions that may be in place.

Twenty different pies will be available, based on the season and demand. That includes apple (and French apple), pumpkin, pecan and cherry, along with an array of cream pies and lemon meringue. Everything is made fresh, in house, with simple basic ingredients like milk, eggs, flour and cocoa powder, Gooch says.

That means that pies can be made by request, if needed.

“We have all the recipes.”

While the pies are very much the same, the restaurant itself got some upgrades. The low ceiling has been lifted and the door that divided the entrance from the restaurant proper has been removed to create a better flow. The area around the pie case has been opened up, so customers can now see the pies as they come out of the oven.

“We’re just excited to get this restaurant open again,” Gooch says.

“It was such a nostalgia for this company.”

Longtime employees returning to work

Fresno has a long history with Marie Callender’s.

The brand has been around since the 1960s and has been in the city almost as long. The restaurant on Blackstone and Ashlan avenues was Marie Callender’s third location. The Cedar and Shaw location was restaurant No. 62, Gooch says. He remembers because he was an assistant manager there some 30 years ago.

And he wasn’t alone.

The dishwasher at the time will be managing the restaurant when it reopens on Friday.

“So, it’s kind of come full circle,” he says.