(KRON) — The community rallied around a San Jose pie shop over the weekend after news broke that Tesla had abruptly canceled a large order, potentially costing the business thousands. On Valentine’s Day, The Giving Pies in San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood got a last-minute order request from Tesla for 2,000 pies.
The baker, which assembles pies by hand in small batches, has previously put together large orders for companies like Apple, Google and Intuit. The bakery’s owner, Vohangy Rasetarinera, sent multiple invoices to Tesla before getting a call asking her to double the order to 4,000 pies.
“So, I contacted my staff and they’re like ‘Yes, we can work on Saturday, on Sunday, on Monday. We can get it done. No problem,’” Rasetarinera recalls.
She sent Tesla a revised invoice, and still did not receive payment. Finally, she got a response by text from her contact, telling her, “Hey, so sorry, I don’t think we’re going to need this order anymore,” Rasetarinera said.
After news of the story broke, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to a tweet from KRON4, promising to “make things good” with the bakery.
Then over the weekend, the community came out in support of the bakery. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan tweeted that when he paid a visit to Giving Pies on Saturday morning “the line was wrapped around the block!”
“It’s inspiring to see our community come together to support Voahangy and her small business after a big order recently fell through,” Mahan tweeted.
“The amount of support that we have received is beyond… I didn’t even expect it and it’s crazy,” said Rasetarinera.
The mayor also thanked Musk “for making it right” by paying for the pies.