It Was in the Cards

In the spring of 1973, my best friend from high school, Alan Rupp, moved in with his grandparents, Walter and Leaudra Kern, after his freshman year at Western Kentucky University. I became a regular visitor to their home. It felt like my own home at times. Being great friends in high school, we picked up where we left off once he returned from college. We spent our reunited time hanging out, going out for some late-night shenanigans, or conducting a more tame game night. At that time, his goal was to lend a hand with their home-operated business during summer break, make a little money, and then return to pursue his degree in the fall. 

I have many fond memories of Kern’s home. From the consistent, delicious smell of their pies baking in the oven to Mrs. Kern’s daily cooking of the family meals. That house held a lot of sacred memories for my friends and the Kern’s family. So much so that I jumped at the opportunity to purchase the home in Louisville’s St. Matthews neighborhood in 1982 after Alan moved himself and the bakery to different locations. We no longer live there but still own that little piece of Derby-Pie® history.

The Kern Family Home, later purchased by the author. Seen here in the early 1970s courtesy of the Kern Family.

One of my most prevalent memories of the house was the bakery they had set up in a converted screened-in porch on the back of their home. Specifically, a wooden table used as a sorting, mixing, assembly, and packaging station; all in one place. But more importantly to us young men at the time, that table served as our weekend card playing table. Regularly, Alan would round three or four of our friends together for a weekend penny poker night. The Kerns owned a nice set of poker chips and it only cost fifty cents to get a stack or two. Mr. and Ms. Kern never failed to join in and stayed until we cashed in the chips. We played games like Scarbelly, Panic, Follow the Q’s, No Peek Baseball, Kings Wild, High Low and a version of modern-day Texas Hold’em. There were many more games we played, but my faded memory after fifty years doesn't allow me to recall all of the names. 

On a good night, a lucky player could start with fifty cents and walk away with three or four bucks, but walking away with a bit of extra pocket change was never the best part of the night. The sweetest ending to our card games was when Ms. Kern would warm up a Kern’s Kitchen Derby-Pie® and serve us a slice with a dollop of freshly whipped, bourbon-laced topping, along with a glass of cold milk. I still reminisce about how life was so good and simple then. I always felt honored to be a part of the card night and pie tradition in that house. Little did we know that those pies would be in thousands of Kentucky homes (and beyond) over the years to come.

THE FAMILY SECRET

I remember Walter and Leaudra Kern asking me to help them box the pies and move them to the freezers in the garage and a few other menial tasks. However, I always had to step out of the bakery whenever the mixing began. To this day, only 4 people know the exact combination of ingredients that comprise the secret recipe. Although my stint as a baker’s assistant was short, it was a pleasure being around them, and I cherish the memories to this day.

Alan Rupp in the kitchen of the Kern’s home on Arterburn Drive, around 1975

As Mr. Kern’s ability to help run the business diminished, Alan’s college plans changed and he assumed a critical role in the family business. When Mr. Kern succumbed to the disease that he had fought so gallantly against all those years, Alan stepped in to continue what his grandparents and uncle George had started back in 1954. Alan embraced the opportunity and demonstrated his ability to run the business. Ms. Kern turned it over to him. She moved to North Carolina to live with Alan’s mom and dad, who had relocated there in 1972 because of his dad’s job. And just like that, Alan, unbeknownst to him, had been dealt a hand of a lifetime.

The backstory of Kern’s Kitchens and the success of that delectable creation Derby-Pie®, unlike the games of chance we played around that wooden table, is rooted in hard work, discipline, dedication to quality, a commitment to success, and an entrepreneurial spirit. 

Mr. & Ms. Kern, along with their oldest son George Kern, formulated the chocolate nut pie when they managed the Melrose Inn on US 42 In Prospect, Kentucky. And just like that, the seed for this uniquely Kentucky icon had been planted. The only thing left to chance about Derby-Pie® was the name. After they had perfected the recipe and began offering it to their guests at the Melrose Inn, it instantly became the must-have dessert. They decided that the chocolate nut pie needed a name. So, into a hat went the suggestions from family, friends, and patrons, and out came the winner, DerbyPie.

(L) The Melrose Inn Restaurant formerly located on US Highway 42 in Prospect, KY. 
( R ) The Kern family outside the Melrose Inn in 1955

BUILDING A LEGACY

As the popularity and demand for Derby-Pie® grew, the Kerns took a chance and in 1963 struck out on their own. In the beginning, they rented the Hershey Farmhouse in Prospect producing three pies at a time and cooling them on the back porch. In 1972 they purchased a two-bedroom ranch house in Norwood across from the newly constructed Oxmoor Mall and started baking full time under the name Kern’s Kitchen. In addition to Derby-Pie®, they also baked the most delicious cheesecake that, to this day, is the best I have ever eaten. The bakery had two residential ovens that allowed them to cook six pies, three on each rack quadrupling their former capacity to twelve pies at a time. They had a couple of cooling racks, a KitchenAid tabletop mixer, an upright refrigerator, a chest freezer, and our poker table, all neatly and efficiently arranged in the tiny 15’ x 15’ space. The operation was mostly by hand. The pie dough was mixed, rolled, docked, and trimmed for each pie shell - tedious work. After cooling the baked pies, they would box them by hand and carry them out to the chest freezers in the garage. On Fridays, Mr. Kern would load the pies into the back seat of their 67 Pontiac Lemans. It was a sweet ride. He would then deliver them to their ever expanding customers scattered throughout the Louisville area, which at the time included 13 restaurants and 1 retail store.

Photos provided by the Kern Family of the Hershey Farmhouse bakery in the early 1960s.

After Uncle George passed away, Mr. & Ms. Kern pressed on. It remained a two-person operation until Alan came on board, and from there, the real growth began. Alan replaced the two residential ovens with a double-door commercial convection oven and doubled their output to 24 pies-per-cycle and cut cook time by 40%. Just like our poker pots back in the day, production increased dramatically. The new oven required a roof top exhaust vent and years after Alan had relocated the bakery to a leased space in Bluegrass Industrial Park, people walking the neighborhood would catch me working in the yard and would stop to reminisce about the wonderful aroma that permeated the air when it was pie baking time. 

The leased space brought about big changes, a large Middleby Marshall revolving oven that cooked 80 pies at a time, an 80 quart floor mixer and a large walk-in freezer. Alan thought he was set up to meet the demand for his products well into the future. Little did he know at the time, this massive space, when compared to the screened porch, was soon going to become too small.

STILL BAKING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

Today, he operates from a building he purchased in Bluegrass Industrial Park and now has three of the revolving ovens upping production to 240 pies-per-cycle, exactly 80x the original output at that farmhouse in Prospect in 1963. The new kitchen also has a conveyorized shrink packaging machine, pie crust pressing machines, and a 24ft frozen box truck. A bit of an upgrade from the at-home screened in porch operation, but still a very hands and eyes on operation. 

The distribution capacity has grown exponentially and now includes a robust e-commerce operation, all managed in-house, and regional distribution through two of the largest institutional suppliers in the area, Sysco and Gordon Food Services. 

You may have also heard of the Kern’s Kitchen Golden Pecan Pie. It seamlessly integrated into the Derby-Pie® production model (and it’s equally delicious). What began as a specialty dessert option at the Melrose Inn, once managed by his grandparents, has grown into an internationally recognized and distributed high-end dessert entity that truly brings Kentucky to the World. 

Like every successful card player, luck alone cannot suffice to build something so fruitful. Strategy, vision, attention to detail, patience and resilience all have a role to play in the sweet recipe for success. 

Well played Alan, well played.  

From your old poker buddy - Smittyman

Kentucky to the World has partnered with Kern’s Kitchen to offer a special holiday bundle featuring their famous pie and our Illustrated Playing Cards to bring this family tradition to your family table. Learn more and place your orders here.