Cyrus O’Leary’s Invests in Community

With roots back to the 1980’s, Cyrus O’Leary’s has been making pies to feed Spokane, the United States, and Canada. While the restaurant in downtown Spokane has long been closed the manufacturing center in Airway Heights has continued and grown since its inception in 1987 and moved to its current location in 2001.

While originally started by Cyrus Vaughn, in 2020 the company was acquired by Sara Lee Frozen Bakery. The Airway Heights location employs 125 people and is operational 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. Sara Lee Frozen Bakery has in Michigan (which also makes Cyrus O’Leary’s brand), North Carolina, and Massachusetts in addition to the Airway Heights location.

Producing 1 million pounds a month, which translates to approximately 100,000 pies in three different sizes, the Airway Heights facility is the primary manufacturing facility for the Cyrus O’Leary’s brand. Plant manager Robert Reed says that the most popular flavors are Chocolate and Coconut.

Sara Lee has shown a continued commitment to the Airway Heights facility by investing over $1.1 million in a new single serve line last year, enabling the facility to produce single serve cheesecakes. According to Reed, Sara Lee continues to invest into the facility with plans for a new packaging line in early 2026.

Having been with the company for almost a year (started last July) Reed has brought a team leadership style to the operation. “We all succeed together or fail together,” says Reed, “We are a true leadership team.”

“We are a very family-focused, employee-engaged employer,” adds Taylor Struble, the Human Resources Manager and a part of the leadership team. “We sponsored employees who wanted to participate in Bloomsday, have nights at the Spokane Indians, and monthly cookouts at work.”

“We like to have FUN” says Reed, who points out that the facility’s priorities are “People Safety, Food Safety, and then Production of Pies.”

While newer to Cyrus O’Leary’s, Reed comes from 30+ years in the food industry and was born and raised in Oregon between Portland and Hood River. Reed spent 8 years working in coffee for Farmer Brothers Coffee, moved to Utah to build out a facility for Garden Burger, and then most recently came from ToFurky where he worked for 10 years before relocating to Airway Heights to take on his current role as Plant Manger with Sara Lee.

Reed met his wife while in high school, graduating from Molalla High School and they have 5 grown children in Oregon. “My son is the maintenance manager for a food manufacturer, my brother is plant manager for another food manufacturer.” Noting the importance of family, Reed shared that “we meet every Friday @ 7:15am via Teams.”

Reed also has a strong passion for military service, having served in the Navy Reserves for 8 years as a Heavy Equipment Operator in the Seabees and his daughter is currently serving in the Airforce stationed at Colorado Springs, CO.

Cyrus O’Leary’s has made it a priority to engage with the Airway Heights community. , having donated over 1,000 cases of pies to community groups across the region in the last year and is partnering with school groups and local sports teams interested in selling pies as a fundraiser.

Cyrus O’Leary pies can be found locally in Walmart and Yokes Foods and are sold across the United States and Canada, even as far away as Hawaii.

Employment opportunities at Cyrus O’Leary may be found at the company’s website (https://cyruspies.com/pie-squad/) or indeed.com.