Frisbie Pie Company

Frisbie Pie Company is an American pie business associated with Bridgeport, Connecticut, and with one of the best-known accidental naming connections in consumer-product history. William Russell Frisbie established the company in 1871 after purchasing and renaming a branch of the Olds Baking Company. The business operated from Kossuth Street on Bridgeport’s East Side and supplied pies to retailers, restaurants, and institutional customers in Connecticut and neighboring areas. The company’s historical importance extends beyond baked goods. Employees reportedly tossed empty pie tins during work breaks, and the activity spread to nearby schools and college campuses. Students at Middlebury College in Vermont, which received Frisbie pies, recognized that an inverted pie plate had an airfoil-like shape and could be thrown along varied trajectories with practice. The tins became informally associated with the name “Frisbie.” That association later influenced the naming of the flying disc. In 1957, Wham-O held rights to a plastic flying-disc product known as the Pluto Platter. Seeking to connect the toy with the popular pie-tin pastime, the company adopted the name “Frisbee,” changing the spelling to avoid potential trademark issues. Frisbie Pie Company therefore became an indirect predecessor to the cultural vocabulary surrounding the modern flying disc, although it was not itself a sporting-goods manufacturer. The original Bridgeport pie factory closed in 1958. The Frisbie brand and pie business were subsequently acquired by Table Talk Pies. This ended the company’s original local manufacturing era, but the name retained historical value because of its connection to the origin story of the Frisbee. A revival began in 2016 when Dan O’Connor, a Fairfield, Connecticut resident described as a Frisbee player, collector, and historian, acquired licensing and distribution rights to the Frisbie Pie Co. He relaunched the company in Bridgeport in November 2016 and began regional distribution in early 2017. The revived products were based on the original Frisbie Pie Company recipe and were positioned as a regional heritage food brand as well as a commemoration of the company’s connection to flying-disc history. The company’s later operating status is unclear. Its website has reportedly been defunct since approximately 2022, and the available reference material does not establish whether production, licensing, or distribution continues. The brand remains notable for its historical Bridgeport identity, its traditional pie products, and its role in the story commonly associated with the naming of the Frisbee.

Frisbie Pie Company began in 1871 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, when William Russell Frisbie purchased and renamed a branch of the Olds Baking Company. The enterprise was located on Kossuth Street in Bridgeport’s East Side and became a local supplier of pies to Connecticut retailers, restaurants, and other customers. Its distribution also reached beyond Connecticut; Middlebury College in Vermont is identified as one institutional customer. The company’s legacy was shaped by the behavior of its employees and customers rather than by a formal product innovation. Workers at the Bridgeport factory reportedly tossed empty pie tins to one another during breaks. The practice spread to nearby college campuses, where students experimented with the tins as throwing objects. When inverted, the tins had an airfoil-like form that allowed them to travel through the air and follow different trajectories depending on the throw. This recreational use created the informal term “Frisbie” for the flying pie plates. In 1957, Wham-O was marketing a plastic flying disc under the name Pluto Platter. To benefit from the popularity of the pie-tin pastime, the toy company adopted a modified spelling, “Frisbee,” while avoiding direct trademark use of the bakery’s name. The pie company thus became closely linked to the origin story of a later global recreational product, despite remaining a food business. The original Bridgeport factory closed in 1958. Table Talk Pies bought the Frisbie brand pies after the closure, marking the end of the company’s original manufacturing operation. The name nevertheless survived as a piece of local industrial and sporting history. In 2016, Dan O’Connor acquired licensing and distribution rights to the Frisbie Pie Co. O’Connor, a Fairfield resident identified as a Frisbee player, collector, and historian, relaunched the company in Bridgeport in November of that year. Distribution of revived pies began regionally in early 2017. The revived products were described as being based on the original Frisbie Pie Company recipe, combining food production with a heritage-brand narrative centered on Bridgeport and the Frisbee connection. The available reference material does not document a later sale, closure, or confirmed change in ownership. It does indicate that the company’s website has been defunct since 2022, with the reason unknown. Consequently, the current commercial status of the revived brand cannot be confirmed. Its documented historical arc runs from nineteenth-century local baking, through the 1958 factory closure and Table Talk ownership, to a limited regional revival in the 2010s.

• 2017

  Regional distribution resumes

  [1]Frisbie Pie Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The revived company began distributing pies throughout the region using recipes associated with the original business.

• 2016

  Brand relaunched in Bridgeport

  [1]Frisbie Pie Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Dan O’Connor acquired licensing and distribution rights and relaunched the company in November.

• 1958

  Original factory closes

  [1]Frisbie Pie Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The Bridgeport factory ceased operations, after which Frisbie brand pies were bought by Table Talk Pies.

• 1957

  Wham-O adopts the Frisbee name

  [1]Frisbie Pie Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Wham-O connected its Pluto Platter flying disc with the pie-tin throwing pastime and changed the spelling to Frisbee.

• 1871

  Company founded in Bridgeport

  [1]Frisbie Pie Companyen.wikipedia.org

  William Russell Frisbie founded the company after acquiring and renaming a branch of the Olds Baking Company.

A regional heritage pie brand rooted in Bridgeport history and associated with the origin story of the Frisbee name.

• Pies and baked goods · 1871

  Frisbie pies

  The company’s core offering was a range of baked pies sold through retailers, restaurants, and institutional customers. The revived business marketed pies based on recipes associated with the original Frisbie Pie Company, emphasizing continuity with the historic Bridgeport bakery. Specific flavors, sizes, ingredients, and current availability are not established in the available reference material.

• 2016

  Heritage-brand revivalStrategy

  Background

  The Frisbie name retained local historical significance because of its association with the pie tins that helped inspire the term Frisbee.

  Action taken

  Dan O’Connor acquired licensing and distribution rights and relaunched the company in Bridgeport using recipes associated with the original business.

  Aftermath

  Regional pie distribution reportedly began in early 2017. The brand’s later commercial status is unclear because its website has reportedly been defunct since 2022.

  Source

1. 1Frisbie Pie Companyen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Frisbie Pie Company websitefrisbiepie.com