There's a sweet ending to the saga that pits a small San Jose business owner against a Silicon Valley giant.
Business at The Giving Pies boomed after the community learned the owner was left holding the bag after an order for 4,000 Tesla mini pies was suddenly cancelled.
Last weekend, community members showed up by the hundreds to support Black and women-owned small businesses.
“Oh my God, it's unbelievable,” said Fuhangi Rasetrinira, owner of The Giving Pies restaurant. “I'm amazed. I'm like, 'I didn't do it for this.' I'm so grateful. It's amazing. The people are amazing.”
More than 300 customers showed up to support the business on Friday and Saturday, and Rasetrinera said she received donations from all over the country and from a few people as far away as the Netherlands and Sweden.
Elon Musk personally posted that Tesla would make things right at the bakery, and Tesla did. Rasetrainera said a Tesla manager offered to pay her and reimburse her for $2,000 worth of supplies she rushed to prepare for the previous order and offered her a new job in catering for 3,600 mini pies to celebrate Women's Day in March.
This is a job she should have turned down.
“Unfortunately, I can't do their catering event because with all the work we've done, we've depleted our crust supply, and then we also have Pi Day to prepare for, so there's no way,” she said with a laugh.
Rasetrainera said she is willing to work with Tesla in the future but wants to fulfill orders she has already received.
“Web maven. Infuriatingly humble beer geek. Bacon fanatic. Typical creator. Music expert.”
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