YEAR IN REVIEW: This article was originally published on April 30.
It’s a side hustle that has bloomed into a thriving business. One Sunday a month, Niagara Falls resident Maggie Kouvelas comes down to Holy Rosary Hall in Thorold to sell homemade pierogies.
“It just grew and grew,” Kouvelas says, in an interview with ThoroldToday. “Facebook helped a lot.”
Kouvelas started MagPies eight years ago.
“I just wanted to make pierogies for myself one day,” says Kouvelas. “And then I really liked doing it and they were pretty good. So I came up with all these different ideas of different kinds.”
And that’s how MagPies was born.
Kouvelas says she likes the versatility of pierogies.
“You can just stuff them with whatever you want,” she says. “You can put chicken in them, meat, potatoes, whatever you want your filling to be. I do a Mars bar one. I just use like a little mini Mars bar. Those ones are pretty simple.”
When Kouvelas decided to sell her pierogies she started looking for a commercial kitchen.
“I had to search around,” she says. “You have to look for an approved kitchen, like for public health. I grew up in Thorold and I was familiar with the person who takes care of [Holy Rosary Hall], so I got in touch with him.”
In the kitchen, Kouvelas is helped by her mom Anastasia.
Both women have full-time jobs so they can only devote one weekend a month to MagPies.
“It can be tough,” says Kouvelas. “I'm busy. Sometimes I have to cut off my orders because it's too much.”
Kouvelas comes from a long line of Greek cooks.
“I used to work in the Pine Plaza for years: Pine Restaurant,” Anastasia tells ThoroldToday. “My husband is a cook too. You come from Greece, you learn to go in the restaurants. You learn how to cook.”
Making the pierogies, usually takes the Kouvelas a whole Saturday.
“It's very fine work,” Kouvelas says. “It's all handmade. I don't have some big machine that produces them for me.”
Once done, the pierogies can be eaten right away.
“I always boil them a little bit and then I toss them in a little bit of oil,” says Kouvelas. “Then we let them cool and then we bag them. Honestly, they can eat them right out of the bag if they wanted to, but a lot of people like to fry them.”
Kouvelas’ favourite pierogie is spicy.
“There’s no potato in it,” she says. “It’s just cream cheese, bacon, and jalapeños. They're very good.”
While it is still a side hustle, Kouvelas hopes to one day make pierogie-making her full-time job.
“At some point, I want to have a store,” she says.
To order pierogies, head over to MagPies' Facebook page.
