While attending Jackson State University, Esco Hill’s friend suggested food critic as an attractive profession. Upon reflection, he realized most food-centered media such as the Food Network target a predominantly older, white audience.
Fast forward two years, past a fortunate, failed kitchen experiment, and Hill has aspirations of making his Esco Eats World Famous Apple Cobbler Pie the top destination dessert in the world.
“We've got people who hate apple pie to love our product," Hill said. "We see it being a worldwide recognition in three to five years.”
In 2020, Hill launched the Esco Eats food series meant to attract a younger demographic by bringing a humorous element to cuisine content. The Youtube channel reached 10,000 views with around 700 subscribers. In one of the series’ last episodes, which featured a Yale gymnast, Hill botched a recipe for apple pie that resulted in a unique texture.
He took the resulting pastry — a pie when at room temperature and an apple cobbler when heated — to market.
Hill piloted the product at farmer’s markets around Atlanta and the ice cream shop Purpose Pops where they would sell out within minutes. He provided Truist Park about 250 pies, which sold out within two days. Amazon then became his biggest customer — purchasing over 1,500 units for its employees.being sold in the Atlanta metro area.
Because of Hill's unique story, Georgia Tech’s Create-X program admitted the startup. The startup accelerator is mostly known for incubating technology-focused companies, most notably supply chain startup Stord, which has a valuation of more than $1 billion. But there have been others not focused on software, such as Paleo Tiger LLC, which sells a tiger nut superfood, and textile fabric company LZRD Tech Inc., which produces sportswear fabric.
“We saw this great ... traction in terms of what Esco had done and getting in front of interesting places — from the Atlanta Braves to celebrities — with this bold vision of building a brand centered around Atlanta,” said Rahul Saxena, associate director of Create-X. “We like to see founders that have bold visions that show progress of being on their own; just kind of being scrappy then escalating.”
Hill is set to graduate from the program on Aug. 25. Next up: Esco Eats’ World Famous Apple Cobbler Pie will be sold at the premium seating sections at all of Georgia Tech’s football, basketball and baseball events. The newly opened John Lewis Student Center will also sell the pies.
“I love being an outlier. You can have SaaS companies, you can be the next big app, but us being a food brand feels good to use the same resources to grow and scale,” Hill said. “When I first got in, we were the odd balls. But with our approach and with their coaching, it was a great combination.”
