Kevin Sirois bought the small Achatz Handmade Pie Company shop on Plymouth Rd. in February 2015. “We have operated for a year and find the business is far too seasonal to maintain thus we will be closing on Sunday March 27,” his father, Keith, explained in an email. “The product is the most awesome pie we have had but unfortunately we have to pay the bills year round.” Kevin, who was out of the country, once owned more than the little pie store next to the Traverwood Kroger: in 2014, he announced that he had purchased all the Achatz franchise rights and planned to open 150 pie shops around the country.

Apparently that deal went sour. Based in Chesterfield Township in Macomb County, the Achatz company sent out a letter of its own in early April, confirming that it had broken with its franchise partner but would continue trying to franchise its pies. It also has a handful of company-owned stores and is still selling pies wholesale; they’re available locally at Whole Foods, Plum Market, and Arbor Farms. (As all of the pie boxes say: Achatz “rhymes with jackets.”)

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