Photo: Matt Carkeek
Wellington man Matt Carkeek is on a mission to save Kiwis from bad pies.
Working in his spare time, Carkeek has developed an app called Mean Pies where users can rate and upload photos of pies, and the idea is taking off around the country.
Carkeek told Morning Report people were excited about the app and it already had a solid following since launching at the start of March.
"It's taken off pretty hard. Everyone is pretty excited about it.
The app lets users see the locations of pies. Photo: Matt Carkeek
"I've just been making it in my spare time while I'm working full-time.
"I'm still plugging away, still trying to make it better. It only really launched at the start of March, but we've already got about 300 registered accounts and about a thousand downloads."
Carkeek explained the app lets users see all the pies in the country and they can then click on a pie shop and will get directions to it.
The app also has some pretty specific guidelines on how to review pies.
"It's an app to rate pies, put up a photo of a fresh pie, and then a photo with two bites to show your structural integrity and a bit of what it's made of on the inside."
Users can also filter the map by different types of pies, so you can search your local area for your favourite variety.
You can also filter the search by rating to get the best of the best.
"If you set the rating really high, there's going to be less shops on the map. You're going to be guaranteed a mean pie."
As for the top pie on the app so far; Carkeek explained there are a few with a 10 out of 10, but it was important to remember everyone has different tastes.
A Mac n Cheese pie on the Mean Pies app. Photo: Matt Carkeek
"Obviously it's completely subjective, but there is one in Rotorua, there's one in Wellington, there's a new pie shop called Puku Pies which is pretty up there, everyone seems to be raving about that."
But when it comes to the variety, Carkeek shared there is one clear favourite so far.
"The highest rated pie at the moment is a steak, cheese and jalapeño pie. So that's the new thing, the new craze."
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