Meet the Kiwi piemaker bringing a slice of New Zealand to Atlanta
Mince and cheese pies and sausage rolls are somewhat of a novelty for Heaps Pies' American customers.
Jake Harvey left Wellington nearly 15 years ago, but he still feels homesick every now and again. That's why he's on a mission to bring New Zealand-style bakery pies to his new hometown of Atlanta.
Heaps Pies serves up all the classics: mince and cheese, steak and mushroom, bacon and egg, and a lamb pie. The walls are decked out with fish and chip shop posters, and the tino rangatiratanga flag hangs proudly in the kitchen - a little slice of home in the heart of Georgia.
Because Americans mostly associate pies with dessert, Harvey says customers are often curious when they step into his shop.
Mince and cheese pies and sausage rolls are somewhat of a novelty for Jake Harvey's American customers.
RNZ / Zen Yates-Fill
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“They assume it’s gonna be sweet. They’re shocked I don’t do any sweet pies, but they love it … they’re just stoked. They can’t believe they haven’t tried it before.
“In the South they have chicken pot pie so they kind of know what savoury pies are, but they’re always like, ‘Why didn’t I think of this before? What a great idea!’ And I’m like, ‘Well, it’s not really my idea, but thanks!’”
Harvey moved to the US in 2011, first working at an Australian-style pie shop in New York, where he learned the ins and outs of piemaking. But it wasn't until 2018, after relocating to Atlanta and feeling a strong pull back to his roots, that the ideas of Heaps Pies really took shape.
"I started cooking out of my kitchen and selling pies at breweries seven and a half years ago. Then about a year later, I got into a proper commissary kitchen and started doing pop-ups, then selling wholesale. Last year we even sold pies at the Atlanta Braves stadium."
In January 2025, Heaps Pies finally got a permanent home, and alongside the classic Kiwi staples, Harvey started throwing some international flavours in the mix.
There's a butter chicken pie, a chana masala pie, and a green Thai chicken pie - Harvey's favourite. He says these flavours reflect the diverse cuisines he grew up eating in Wellington.
"My parents got me to cook dinner as a kid, and it was always Thai or Indian curries, that's my favourite cuisine anyway. Wellington's always had great Malaysian food too, so we'd go to Malaysia restaurants all the time. I just love cooking curries, I'm all about the curries."
Harvey says the diversity of pie flavours can confuse his customers at times.
"They're like, 'Why are you calling them New Zealand pies? These are international pies', but I'm a New Zealander, and I don't want to just make beef pies all the time. I've been cooking with international flavours my whole life."
A pulled pork pie with plenty of tomato sauce.
RNZ / Zen Yates-Fill
To cater to local tastes, Harvey has also added a few American-inspired pies to the menu. In barbeque-loving Atlanta, you'll find a pulled pork pie and a brisket jalapeno pie. Meanwhile, the humble mince-and-cheese has undergone a re-branding exercise.
"Mince and cheese is probably the most popular one, just cause I tell people to get it. They don't know what it is, I have to call it beef and cheddar so they have a good idea and they don't think it's Christmas pies or anything like that. There's no fruit but that's what they're thinking ... I used to call it mince and cheese but I got sick of explaining it."
Saturdays are the busiest at Heaps, with around a hundred customers coming through the doors. There’s a team of just five piemakers, with Harvey being the only Kiwi in the mix. He says the pies come out slow, but they're gone fast.
"We do a chicken pot pie to ease people into it, and then we do a Cuban sandwich pie. Two of my main cooks are from Cuba, and they’ve been incredible. Their flavor palates are completely different - they’ve made Cuban curry pies that remind them of home.
"I love tying food back to home, and they love it too."
Harvey hopes to return to New Zealand one day, but for now, he’s staying put.
"We were actually about to move back, my wife and my two daughters, about a year and a half ago. But then the recession hit in New Zealand and it seemed like it was gonna be pretty tough to find work in Wellington where we'd wanna live. And then to start all over again ... we've put a lot of work into Heaps, so we changed our minds and went full brick and mortar.
"I miss it so much, I miss living in New Zealand and that's why I've surrounded myself with pies and got my shop with everything New Zealand in it. I just wanna connect to back home and yeah, kinda just ended up being here.
"It's funny how life just takes you here and drops you off. Probably give us six years and we'll be back."
