San Jose, California, bakery owner Voahangy Rasetarinera is receiving much-needed love from the community after Tesla compensated her $2,000 to cover the company’s canceled order.
Rasetarinera owns a pie bakery called The Giving Pies, and someone at the Tesla San Jose facility, first thought to be a Tesla rep, placed a large order for mini pies on Feb. 14 for a Black History Month event the next week in February.
Pies, Pies, Pies
As reported by Business Insider, The Giving Pies had to make 4,000 pies. Rasetarinera quickly bought supplies and mobilized staff to meet the tight deadline.
In order to complete 4,000 pies, The Giving Pies had to cancel much of its catering to meet the higher demand.
“To fulfill the order, I had turned down other Black History Month catering inquiries, purchased supplies, and prepared for a demanding production schedule,” the Madagascar-born Rasetarinera said, Business Insider cited.
Through her bakery, she wanted to honor the importance of remembering this history and celebrate diversity and cultural heritage during Black History Month. However, her plans changed.
According to Fortune, the 4,000 pie order was worth around $16,000 to the bakery.
However, the order was canceled amidst Rasetarinera’s fulfillment, later revealing that the Tesla rep was actually an “hourly worker” who had misled her small business into making a big commitment, People magazine reported.
The untimely cancellation, as the owner of The Giving Pies said, left her small business “high and dry.” Rasetarinera took to Facebook to express her dissatisfaction with the situation, stating that the waste of time and resources, along with the mere $2,000 offered by the company to compensate her for the misunderstanding, were not good enough and heartbreaking.
“This abrupt reversal left me reeling, realizing the extent of the impact on my small business,” the business owner said. “I had invested time, resources and effort based on assurances from Tesla, only to be left high and dry.”
The incident and the subsequent Facebook post gained attention locally and were covered by ABC News San Francisco on February 23. Even Tesla founder Elon Musk, who has been outspken about being anti-DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) became aware of Tesla’s cancellation via his X (formerly known as Twitter) platform.
Musk, sharing a clip of the news on X, vowed to do something, posting, “Just hearing about this. Will make things good with the bakery.”
The response to her Facebook post led sympathetic individuals to place orders at her bakery, as reported by ABC News San Francisco. Lines are formed outside Rasetarinera’s business, waiting to try her mini pies.
Rasetarinera also told ABC San Francisco that Tesla had sought to offer her two catering opportunities in March to make up her initial loss, but she had declined the offer due to the surge in business, which had filled her schedule for many days throughout the year.
“They asked me to cater March 5 and 7 but I had to decline because I don’t have any more crust — because everybody came to buy pies,” Rasetarinera told ABC, “We have so many events in March, we have Pi Day, we have women’s events, we also have Easter this year so it’s all crazy. I really don’t have any time for them.”
But because of the attention and Musk publicly acknowledging the mishap, the bakery owner says she has seen a surge in business. and support from the general public.
“Tesla is associated in people’s mind with Elon Musk,” she told Fortune, “and you either love him or hate him … so when people saw that it was Tesla, I think it stirred strong emotions.”
