Pie lover Samuel beats out hundreds of hopefuls to land dream '˜pie-tasting' job

Samuel Hartley landed his dream job on the Lancashire baker’s elite pie panel recently alongside five other tasters, now tasked with tasting and reviewing the company’s top pies and puds.

Samuel and the team, headed up by newly appointed chief pieologist Helen Henry, will now meet every six months at the Holland’s Pies bakery in Baxenden, to offer their thoughts. Each member of the pie panel will receive a yera’s supply of pies after each meeting they attend.

Pie Panel hopefuls were asked to prove their love for pies and explain why they deserved a spot on the panel in the most creative way possible, which is exactly what Samuel did. The Pie Panel judges were impressed with the poem he penned confessing his love of pies.

The first pie panel meeting took place in Walter’s Café at Holland’s HQ where panellists got their hands on Holland’s Pies’ new Best Ever range. The range is available in over 1,200 chippies across the North West and in the chilled aisle in Asda, Coop, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco stores and in frozen by the end of November.

Chief pieologist Helen said: “We had over 500 entries from the public for these five coveted roles on the pie panel, but Samuel’s really stood out. The poem he wrote brought a tear to eye of our judging panel, it clearly came from the heart.”

Samuel added: “I’m absolutely ecstatic and can’t express how happy I am to win a spot on the Holland’s Pie Panel.

“The first date I took my girlfriend on was for a pie and we’ve been together ever since, so I’ll definitely be sharing my year’s supply of Holland’s with her.”