The Perfectly Sweet Story

Perfectly Sweet was an idea born in 1987. It began with a single dessert, the Sarah Bernhardt. Christmas baskets filled with these exquisite desserts, were the first test of the market. The overwhelming response was convincing evidence that Perfectly Sweet had the potential to grow into a full-fledged business.

Initially we sold our products wholesale to caterers and upscale gourmet markets. As demand grew, in 1991 Perfectly Sweet moved from renting bakery space in an established bakery in Pasadena to a permanent home of its own in Eagle Rock. Until then Mary Aqleh sustained the business by maintaining dual careers. As a full-time critical care nurse at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, and growing the business, until she was finally able to devote full time to the now thriving wholesale and retail bakery.

Perfectly Sweet is a scratch bakery. There are no mixes in our products, and we use only the finest ingredients. Fresh dairy products and seasonal fruits go into making our desserts in full view of our guests on a custom made marble table. We currently offer a full list of products including wedding, and other custom-made cakes as well as gift baskets and specialty candies.

Mary works closely with the purveyors to ensure that they give her the best ingredients for her desserts. Perfectly Sweet listens to the needs of its customers to create specific desserts to meet their needs, thereby achieving an outstanding level of service.

As the business grew, so did the need for space. In 1998 Perfectly Sweet made the move to our present facility in Alhambra, California. We tripled our space and built a state of the art bakery. We continued the open bakery concept from the Eagle Rock facility. Our customers can still observe the bakers baking and creating finished products, whether it is our home made candy being tempered on our marble tables or a wedding cake in its final stages of construction or caramel being spun on a 300 puff croquembouche.

Over the years, Perfectly Sweet has been growing slowly and carefully. This was done in order to maintain the essence of why Perfectly Sweet was started in the first place. Providing exceptional handmade products, and offering old fashioned customer service is the very foundation of Perfectly Sweet. Customers, both retail and wholesale that supported us in 1987 are still with us today in 2001.

Our customer base has steadily grown. We are now involved in a national program. Perfectly Sweet products can be enjoyed throughout the United States. The very product that Perfectly Sweet started with, the Sarah Bernhardt, can now be enjoyed in seventy stores across the country.

Giving back to the community is important to Perfectly Sweet. In Eagle Rock, we adopted two neighborhood schools and supported the "All Saints Hunger Ministry" in Pasadena. We are active in Alhambra and support local community redevelopment activities. We are participants in fund raisers for the Red Cross Annual Gala and the Pasadena Mental Health Foundation fund raisers.

Throughout the years, Perfectly Sweet has had many positive newspaper reviews. Among them two articles in the Los Angeles Times food section. The Zagat Los Angeles Food Survey, the Los Angeles Magazine, Best Bakeries. The most recent was in 1999 in the Pasadena Star News for our, now famous, Tuxedo Strawberries which were also featured in the Los Angeles Times. In 1999 Perfectly Sweet received the "Downtown Alhambra Beautiful Award" from the Downtown Association and Chamber of Commerce.