Peasant Pies Café started as a small storefront in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighbourhood in 1993. In the early 1990s, Ali Keshavarz and his business partner, Gerard Buulong, ran a jazz club/French restaurant but wanted to change direction. “We thought, what can we do that’s related to food but less formal and healthier…. more like a healthy fast food! Something inexpensive, delicious and nutritious – we wanted to find a concept that incorporated those three ideas,” says Keshavarz. It was Buulong, a Cordon Bleu-trained chef, who originally told Keshavarz about the peasant pies, created by French fishermen who would take seafood out of their catch, chop it up, and add tomato and garlic. They would stew this mixture overnight, and in the morning, they would bake dough around it to make a small pie, which they could then slip into their pockets and take out on the boats with them.This very primal, working-class food, that you can eat with your hands, appealed to Keshavarz. “We wanted to be fast-casual.” The peasant pies were perfect for this,” says Keshavarz. “We created a healthier version of fast food and the food cart.” After two successful years in Noe Valley, Peasant Pies Café opened their second storefront in San Francisco’s Inner Sunset neighbourhood in 1995. After that, Peasant Pies started delivering their hand-held savoury pies to gourmet markets in San Francisco including Whole Foods Market and Rainbow Grocery. A new flagship store in San Francisco’s Mission Bay opened in 2008. Nowadays, Peasant Pies are very popular with high tech companies in the Bay area. The savory and sweet hand-held pies are perfect for office breakfast, lunch or afternoon events. All the pies are delivered fresh and warm right out of their kitchen in San Francisco. They are individually packed and labeled like, meat, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and so on. There is no need for plate or fork…. just grab a napkin and you’re set.