Some consumers have turned into pie monsters after watching a video review of Patti LaBelle's Sweet Potato Pies, which are sold at Walmart. On Nov. 12, James Wright posted his video on YouTube, which has since gone viral.
In the video, James enthusiastically eats the pie and describes the experience by singing LaBelle's hits. Within a few hours, James' entertaining bit not only became an internet sensation, people apparently rushed to Walmart to get a piece of Patti. The pies sold out over the weekend, according to Yahoo! Food.
"For 72 hours, we were selling one per second," said John Forrest Ales from Walmart. "Friday morning, the team was working with the [sweet potato pie] supplier to see how we can keep up with the demand."
When you have to meet them at the loading dock for your #PattiPie because they fighting over them in the store! pic.twitter.com/JyVCIu6xja
— Brittanye D. Calhoun (@LadyDeara) November 14, 2015
Most shoppers troop to the store to serve the pie for Thanksgiving, but unfortunately the supplier needs two million pounds of sweet potatoes to fulfill the demands.
"There's a lot of moving parts. The suppliers have been working all weekend," said Walmart's vice president for the bakery and deli, Kerry Robinson, via New York Post. "We need something like 2 million pounds of sweet potatoes, and that's not something easy to get," she confirmed. The news outlet also reported that the Walmart pies have been displayed in stores since September.
With pie supply low at Walmart, some enterprising individuals have been scalping Patti LaBelle's Sweet Potato pies like it's a highly-coveted concert ticket, according to Jezebel. The pies only cost $3.50 each, but are now going for $45 on eBay.
What is wrong with y'all? pic.twitter.com/3m0xJwk8Fk
— J I Λ (@missjia) November 15, 2015
Meanwhile, LaBelle has actually seen Wright's video review and called him, according to Fox 23 Chicago. "She kept thanking me and she kept telling me how much she loved me and she just kept telling me to be me," Wright said. "She was like, 'boy, you can sang!'"
Walmart also addressed shoppers who still have had no luck finding the sweet potato pies at their outlets. "We're working as hard as possible to get this back on stock as soon as we can," said a Walmart senior buyer for cake sand pies, Kinna Thomas, in a video.
