Marie Callender began selling pies to restaurants in the early 1940s.
Yes, she was a real person, not just a company icon. Just ask her great granddaughter Jasmine Winter, who works at the Marie Callender’s restaurant in Seal Beach as a hostess and cashier.
“I remember hearing about her when I was a little girl,” she said. “This restaurant is part of my lineage and I am very proud to be a part of it.”
Demand soared for the light, flaky crusts piled high with fresh fruits and creamy fillings.
With a lot of help from her son Don, Marie Callender parlayed her special touch with pie recipes into a restaurant dynasty with facilities all around the United States. The business’s story has been as American as, well, apple pie.
Suddenly, in June, Marie Callender’s closed 31 restaurants in eight states as its parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It was a sad day for many pie fans, but they were relieved to discover that the restaurants in Orange County were not closed. While it’s unclear if more restaurants, including some in Orange County, will be shut down, speculation has run wild that the facility at 12489 Seal Beach Blvd. will be closing.
Part of the perception revolves around the restaurant’s location at the Shops at Rossmoor. As the shopping center continues to see many of the other, older adjacent businesses, such as the Kentucky Fried Chicken that closed about two weeks ago, being replaced by new outlets, Marie Callender’s patrons have inundated the restaurant with inquiries about its future.
“The phone has been ringing off the hook,” said Nancy Proctor, general manager/partner of the Seal Beach facility.
Proctor said that the Seal Beach restaurant is not closing and has no plans to close any time in the future, near or far.
She explained that while the parent company closed some of its corporate facilities, the one in Seal Beach is a private, family-owned franchise and not beholden to the direction of the corporation. She also said that like the first Marie Callender’s in the city of Orange, the one in Seal Beach also has some historical significance.
It was the 38th Marie Callender’s when it opened. However, it was the first one to shut down, remodel and reopen as a Marie Callender’s Grill. It’s a story that is also full of family ties, said Proctor, who grew up in Rossmoor.
“This is our 40th year in business,” Proctor said. “My father Bill Proctor and Bob Barger were partner’s for 38 years. Bob really made this store what it is today. It was Bob’s passion and vision to shut the store down six years ago and reopen as the first Marie Callender’s Grill.”
Barger kept the customer’s original favorites such as Pot Pies, Frisco Burgers and the Famous Potato Cheese Soup. He blended the old style with the new. He added 14-hour slow-smoked tri-tip, chicken and ribs and gave the store a whole new look.
“What hasn’t changed in the 40 plus years in this business is the tremendous support and passion our community has shown for this store,” Proctor said. “Without that we wouldn’t be where we are today.” Proctor said working at the restaurant is a labor of love for the people who work there and she hopes it shows in everything they do.
“We have employed over 5,000 people in the past 40 years, she said. “We have employees that have been here for more than 30 years. Moms and daughters, sisters, aunts, brothers, and cousins. We even currently have Jasmine Winters, Debbie Callender’s daughter, granddaughter to Don and great granddaughter to Marie Callender. We have created a family within a family here and they make me proud daily.”
Proctor’s father was childhood friends with Don Callender, who was the engine that made the company run.
“Our families grew up together here,” she said. “All of us kids attended Los Alamitos High and all of our first jobs were in one of the Callender stores. Mine just happened to be here at the Seal Beach Store location.”
Proctor returned to the restaurant to help with the reopening and has never left.
“When my father passed away two years ago, I took over his partnership,” she said. “I think I’m meant to be here. I see my father and Don in this store all the time in the grill or by the pie oven, a friendship between two men that spanned a lifetime. They even died two weeks apart.”
Proctor said the Seal Beach location is still thriving and despite the state of the country’s economy, business is good.
“Our favorite time of year is the holiday season where we bake 24-hours-a-day for four days. We make close to 7,000 pies in that period,” she said. “Along with the To-Go Turkeys and Ham Feasts that go out on Thanksgiving Day, it’s a fast pace and everyone here loves it.”
Proctor said that despite the closures, all the Marie Callender’s in the surrounding area help each other out when needed whether they are corporate or franchisees.
“It’s family,” she said. “We were all saddened when we heard the news that there would be a few corporate stores closing. It has been a tough few years for everyone. Yet, we are still strong and growing daily, thanks to the community support around us.”
