Grownup pop-tarts: Former islander’s artisanal tarts debut at Starbucks

You’re going to have to change your regular order with all the crazy adjectives.

You’re going to have to change your regular order with all the crazy adjectives.

Half-caff, no foam, extra hot, soy, etc.

Don’t freak. You will get your Starbucks coffee with all its tweaks.

But you need to add a Megpie on the side.

They’re like Pop Tarts, but for grown-ups: all-natural, artisanal, lots of salt in the crust.

And you might actually know the gal who created them.

Meghan Ritchie, Bainbridge High class of ’99, was going to be an actress. “I participated in BPA a lot as a kid and high school theatre and that was really what I spent all my extracurricular time on,” she said.

After graduation, she moved to New York to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She worked odd jobs to make ends meet and began baking as a hobby.

“My roommate and I started selling donuts from our front stoop only because we thought it would be fun,” Ritchie said. “To our surprise, things just took off. Soon we were selling donuts once per week to keep up with the demand from commuters.”

The tarts came a few years later, when Ritchie became a zester for a tiny jam operation. The woman who owned it was looking for an edible product to highlight her fruity condiments. The result, dubbed Megpies, were a hit.

But the path from stoop to Starbucks was a bit lonely at times.

“When I wanted to become a more legitimate business, I moved to a restaurant, which was really isolating,” Ritchie explained. “I worked in a basement all by myself at 2 in the morning. I didn’t know how long I wanted this to go on.”

As she secured more and more accounts, making deliveries by bike, Ritchie’s boyfriend Paul Jones came on board. With a background in sales, he was able to increase tart purchases from 300 per week to 3,000 per week in just six months.

“That’s when we thought, ‘OK, people like these. We’ve been 100 percent in it since then,” Ritchie said.

In 2014, Starbucks approached Ritchie about selling her tarts in a few New York stores. The tarts were a huge success, which led to Starbucks expanding distributions to 30 locations and then all company-operated stores in the United States.

Because of all the scaling, Ritchie no longer produces Megpies herself. She works with two co-manufacturers, who follow her recipe, while she focuses on quality control and developing new flavors.

For now, Starbucks serves two of six: strawberry and cinnamon sugar. Other flavors will be introduced seasonally, Ritchie said.

So what does she think of Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts?

That’s the kicker.

Ritchie didn’t eat them growing up.

“My mom worked at Soybeans N Such, which used to be the health food store on the island,” she explained.

Her first bite of her pastry’s progenitor didn’t happen until two years ago, at the behest of the Wall Street Journal.

She wasn’t smitten.

“I can see why people like them, because they are very sweet and they give you exactly what you expect. But I don’t think the dough is much to write home about.”