Walmart adds to popular Patti Pie line

With customers still clamoring for Patti LaBelle’s Sweet Potato Pie, Walmart is again expanding the product line to include cobblers and other desserts, Laura Rush, merchandise manager — bakery at Walmart U.S., said in a company blog post.

Starting Sept. 2, Walmart will sell premium cobblers in peach, apple and mixed berry flavors. Inspired by a recipe from one of LaBelle’s cookbooks, the cobblers are baked with crusts on top and bottom. Houston-based Walmart supplier Twin Star Bakery will make the pies, which will be sold fresh rather than frozen.

Patti LaBelle's cobblers will come in peach, apple and mixed berry flavors. (Photo courtesy of Walmart)

In the Northeast, the retailer also plans to roll out LaBelle’s apple pecan cake and sweet potato pound cake.

Walmart launched the original #PattiPie last November. It proved so popular that stores had trouble keeping the sweet potato pies on the shelves.

In January, the retailer expanded the line with premium vanilla pound cake and premium caramel cake and created a website where customers could search to see if Patti LaBelle bakery products were available in their local store.

Rush noted Walmart added 60 new items to the bakery in 2015.

“Today, more than half of our items are prepared in our stores, and we’ve enriched our teams across the country with bakery technicians who’ve been training and helping our store associates to ensure everything comes out exactly right,” said Rush.

“On top of that, we’re simplifying our processes so that we can bake many different items at one temperature, allowing us to produce more fresh-baked goods for our customers every day.”