< Back to Oral History project: Pie in Arkansas
ORAL HISTORY
Loretta Tacker
Shake Shack
The Shake Shack lies a few hundred yards from Interstate 55 in Marion, Arkansas. Inside, John Wayne and Elvis memorabilia cover the walls, while a display case full of slowly spinning fresh pies tempts customers next to the register.
Owner and pie maker Loretta Tacker was working as a kindergarten teacher when she and her husband John decided to buy the local Tastee Freeze in 1977, the year Elvis died. Though the couple had never worked in food service before, they quickly became a cornerstone in the community, even as national chains opened up nearby.
Loretta learned to make pies by watching her grandmother, and she incorporates recipes from friends and family members into the restaurant’s pie offerings. Her famous Tang pie, a soft orange pie that incorporates the drink powder of the same name, came from a recipe given to her by her mother-in-law. The pecans for pecan pie come from her own trees. At the Shake Shack, diners can have pie all day, from a breakfast fried pie to the post-dinner hot fudge pie, served with ice cream.
The Shake Shack is now known as Tacker’s Shake Shack.
