Costco Pumpkin Pie Science

Costco expects to have sold more than 1 million fresh-baked, giant $5.99 pumpkin pies during this short week when in-store bakeries run around the clock. Stores were so busy that the wheeled pie-laden carts in transit from bakeries to the huge refrigerators grow lighter as they go; shoppers walk alongside and pull off pies, then hurry for the cash registers.

Costco’s blend of pumpkin-pie spice arrives in sacks. A neat blue binder serves as cookbook, thick with formulas and baking times. Two by two, bakers fill 12-inch pie shells with bright orange pumpkin-pie mix from a pitcher. The rich scent of baking pies permeates the bakery, tucked in a corner of the otherwise deserted warehouse.

One million pies equals roughly 4.7 million pounds of pumpkin and roughly 12.6 million fresh eggs, by Costco’s figures. Of course, pumpkin pies aren’t all that’s cooking this week. The other side of each bakery is cranking out fresh dinner rolls, muffins, Danish, birthday cakes, and chocolate, apple and pecan pies — the other essential sweets of life. But you know all we care about is the pie.