It's back! Georgie Pie returns to town

PIE-TASTIC: Robert Hintz, Masterton McDonald's Family Restaurant store manager, tucks in to a Georgie Pie, which went on sale at the Masterton outlet yesterday. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

Masterton couple Roy and Gwenda Bambry are reliving bygone days through the original-recipe taste of Georgie Pie.

The couple say they are "recycled teenagers" who were yesterday enjoying a Georgie Pie steak mince and cheese pie, from McDonald's Family Restaurant in Masterton, after first tasting the pastry creation back in the mid-1970s.

"It tastes pretty much the same as we remember and really does take you back," Mrs Bambry said.

She said her children had thoroughly enjoyed family trips to Georgie Pie and "now they're all in their 40s-plus" and may also treasure the return of Georgie Pie pies.

Sitendra and Kavita Singh , McDonald's franchise-holders, say they are pleased to be able to expand their menu to include Georgie Pie, and offer Wairarapa Kiwis an icon of New Zealand fare.

Georgie Pie was the brainchild of Tom Ah Chee who opened New Zealand's first supermarket, Foodtown Otahuhu, in 1958.

The first Georgie Pie restaurant opened in 1977 and at the peak of the business, there were 32 outlets across New Zealand. The McDonald's corporation bought Georgie Pie in 1996, mainly for its restaurant locations, and the last outlet was closed in 1998. Georgie Pie, during its 21-year history, had achieved a number of firsts in NZ including the first drive-through, first with breakfast and first 24-hour drive-through.

Ex-Georgie Pie general manager Brian Popham had been consulted throughout the product research and development process to ensure the pies remained as close as possible to the original recipe.

Although a dedicated Georgie Pie outlet remained off the drawing board for McDonald's, the company may roll out more pie flavours after the success of the first sales of the pies in 15 years in Auckland and the upper North Island forced the introduction of special queues and extra security.