Operation Success: Valley View Orchard Pies (Oxford, Maine)

In Oxford, Maine, a family-owned bakery is proving that growth often comes from honoring what customers already love while continually finding new ways to surprise and delight them.

Since purchasing Valley View Orchard Pies in 2018, Lisa Dunham and her family have transformed the business into a thriving operation that produces hundreds of thousands of pies and whoopie pies each year.

The bakery's success story began in 2018 when Lisa and her mother, Cindy Johnston, purchased the business from another family. At the time, neither woman had any bakery experience. Dunham had spent her career in event planning and catering, and her retired mom had just started a new job doing accounting for Valley View Orchard Pies.

"A week or two after she started, we learned the owners were planning to sell,” said Lisa. “We looked at each other and said, 'We should buy it.'"

What started as a leap of faith has grown into a thriving multigenerational operation built on innovation, quality ingredients and family teamwork. Today, three generations of the family work together in the business, including three of Lisa’s four children.

Family involvement has helped fuel growth and innovation. Son Cole serves as bakery manager, while her oldest daughter, Angelena, oversees the whoopie pie department and is preparing to launch Bean's Café, a new café concept located within the bakery. Her youngest daughter, Alexza, works in the whoopie pie department.

Lisa credits her children with helping the business stay on top of emerging food trends and bringing fresh ideas to product development.

That commitment to innovation has transformed Valley View's whoopie pie business. When the family purchased the bakery, Valley View was producing just a few dozen whoopie pies each month. Today, the bakery offers 19 flavors and produces well over 350 dozen monthly, including 19 flavors with seasonal varieties that keep customers coming back for something new. They’ve also branched out to sell “Maine’s state treat” on a wholesale basis, with the bakery’s whoopie pies available at the popular Northeast sandwich chain Amato’s.

"People love the classic flavor, but they also like variety and trying new things," says Lisa, who adds that recent flavors have included lemon blueberry, lemon raspberry and a Dubai chocolate-inspired variety that capitalized on a popular consumer trend. The bakery also introduced mini whoopie pies that have become popular for weddings, schools, and catered events.

The bakery's dedication to quality and creativity recently earned industry recognition when Valley View took first place in the Traditional Whoopie Pie category at Maine's 2026 Whoopie Pie Festival.

While whoopie pies continue to gain attention, pies remain the heart of the operation. Valley View produces 18 preservative-free fruit pies, four cream pies and seasonal favorites such as pumpkin and pecan. Its bestselling Maine Wild Blueberry Pie showcases a local flavor customers can't get enough of. During the busy holiday season, the bakery partners with schools, churches and community groups on fundraising programs that help drive significant pie sales.

Supporting that growth is a commitment to trusted, high-quality ingredients. The bakery uses Pillsbury™ Crème Cake Mix in many of its cake applications, including its popular whoopie pies, and relies on Gold Medal™ Flour across pie production and other baked goods.

"I think Valley View Orchard Pies' whoopie pies are truly something special," says Tim Cipriano, account executive with General Mills Foodservice. "They are unique, incredibly delicious, and made with the kind of care and tradition you only get from a multigenerational bakery. You can taste the quality and heritage in every bite."

As Valley View looks ahead to the opening of Bean's Café and future growth opportunities, Lisa remains focused on balancing tradition with innovation—a recipe that has served the bakery well.

For other bakery operators, the lesson is simple: build on what already works, use quality ingredients and never stop looking for ways to give customers something new to discover.