Today we’d like to introduce you to Heidi Allison.
Heidi, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I first discovered that I loved baking and decorating in high school and wanted to pursue that as a career but decided to put it on hold as I completed my BA at UTA. Following college I began a career in advertising in Dallas and continued to bake & decorate cakes on the side for friends and friends-of-friends. Word of mouth about my cakes and sweets began spreading and within a few years of graduation I needed to quit my full time job to pursue my business full time. In 2008 I moved back to Arlington and was married in 2009. I opened Sugar Bee Sweets Bakery in The Shoppes at Brownstone Village in fall 2010 and in what seemed like the blink of an eye had my eldest daughter in 2012 and my youngest daughter in 2014. Life was a whirlwind! We continued to grow in both business and staff becoming a family of workers coming up with custom confections for our clients. We were at our original location for six wonderful years and only left so that we could expand our kitchen to keep up with demand. We moved our shop to a 4,000 sq. ft. building in downtown Arlington a year ago and could not be happier about our move!
We can design just about any cake or confection but one of our specialties is customizing each cake design to coordinate with our clients’ events. About half of our business remains with wedding cakes, another quarter is special occasion cakes such as showers and birthdays and the remaining quarter of business is from our retail offerings of coffee, breakfast scones, cupcakes, cake balls and other treats.
Our new space has a small party room that we have begun renting for art classes, yoga classes, baby and bridal showers. This is a fun addition to the business and we look forward to seeing what this addition brings to the table.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Nothing in life is ever easy. I have had both personal and business hurdles throughout the years but I hope that I have learned from each of these obstacles and have grown into both a better person and business owner because of them.
Sugar Bee Sweets Bakery – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We customize in custom wedding & special event cakes. We are also open 6 days a week and have a retail side that features coffee, breakfast pastries, cupcakes, cake balls and a variety of treats daily. I think we are best known for our amazing customer service in addition to our high quality cakes & desserts. Our customer service is definitely what I am most proud of at this moment because it is what I am always looking for when I frequent other businesses and it is becoming harder to find in this day and age.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I think my proudest moment is a continuous realization that this business that I started out of my home is continuing to thrive and grow. It amazes me to look around and see our wonderful staff that is like family to me and have returning customers throughout the years that we get to share their special moments with.
Contact Info:
- Address: 201 N East St
Arlington, TX 76011 - Website: www.sugarbeesweets.com
- Phone: 817-903-8661
- Email: hello@sugarbeesweets.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sugarbeesweets/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sugarbeesweets/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sugarbeesweets
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sugar-bee-sweets-bakery-arlington
Image Credit:
Beyond The Blue Studios
Stefano Choi Photography
Luke and Cat
Fairytale Photography
Kristen Dee Photography
Kelley Thompson Photography
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
