If you haven’t heard all the fuss surrounding Patti LaBelle’s sweet potato pies at Walmart, you must not have paid your phone or cable bill. The legendary singer’s dessert went viral after a viral video review by James Wright found him busting out into song. Racking up millions of views online, Wright’s take on Patti’s pies sent everyone into a tailspin to experience the delicacy for themselves. So much so, that Walmart is not scrambling to up its inventory.
According to The New York Post, LaBelle’s pies sold about one per second over the weekend. In response to the overwhelming demand, Walmart was forced to put all of their stock for the season on sale in stores, including pies they had on hold for Christmas. The line has been out since September, but thanks to Wright, the pies have reportedly pulled in $2.3 million. And now that gold has been struck, the colossal retailer need a whopping number of sweet potatoes to replenish its stock.
“We need something like 2 million pounds of sweet potatoes, and that’s not something easy to get,” Kerry Robinson, vice president for bakery and deli at Wal-Mart, said.
LaBelle showed her appreciation to Wright by putting in a personal call to him, thanking him for telling the world about her pies. Currently, Patti LaBelle’s pie on Walmart.com is the most visited food page on the site.