The story
Founded by Tom Ah Chee in 1977.1
Georgie Pie was the brainchild of Tom Ah Chee, who opened New Zealand's first supermarket (Foodtown Ōtāhuhu, 1958). Ah Chee had made an unsuccessful bid for the New Zealand rights to McDonald's before deciding to establish his own fast food restaurant chain. The first restaurant was opened in Kelston, Auckland in 1977. In 1994, plans were announced to open 25 new outlets per year, with a goal of 114 operating restaurants by the end of 1998. The chain came to prominence in the early 1990s with its $1, $2, $3, and $4 "Funtastic Value" menu. At its peak, the chain employed about 1,300 people. Georgie Pie was able to automate the food production process far more than chains which sold labour-intensive items such as burgers. Timing was a more difficult detail, for Georgie Pie, as it took 22 minutes to bake a pie versus a few minutes for typical fast food.
From Wikipedia’s article on Georgie Pie, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4