Shoppe is raising bakery bar

Any business owner will tell you, their goal is to grow their business. It takes hard work, dedication, many hours and, of course, a great product to sell. Ken and Peggy Heil, husband and wife and owners of Sweet Perfections Bake Shoppe in historic downtown Waukesha have raised the bar on what a bakery should be, and it all started as a home-based business.

"We started out baking cakes at home for weddings and were only Web-based," said Ken. "A lot of our wedding clients were asking for other products for birthdays and parties." So from that success, the business turned into primarily a cake and pastry shop in November 2004 as Sweet Perfections Bake Shoppe.

"We knew, with our experiences and tastes, we could provide a higher level of service and product," said Ken. That is apparent from the moment you walk into the European-style bakery. From the exquisitely decorated tiered cakes to the beautifully hand-crafted tarts, to the "to-die-for" chocolate truffles, the customer is not disappointed.

So good is the quality and presentation, and, of course, taste, of the vast array of pastry offerings, the Heils have a patent pending on their signature item, the "Cheez Torte." That little slice of heaven is dark chocolate enveloping a vanilla cheesecake with a lacing of red raspberry preserves. One bite and you'll know why the patent office is taking so long to approve the patent. One guess could be that several requests have been made to sample, and resample, the delicacy.

Sweet Perfections is quickly expanding into the commercial market, as well. The specialty pastries can now be found at upscale grocers in the Waukesha and Milwaukee area.

Sweet Perfections Bake Shoppe specializes in wedding cakes and decorated cakes for special occasions such as graduations, birthdays, anniversaries and more. They also offer a wide variety of pastries, cookies and breads. In all, Sweet Perfections makes more than 400 products.

Customers keep coming back. "This bread is like the one my mom used to make," said Dave Schramke of Waukesha. "I come here whenever I want to taste some good bread." Dave recommends the raisin pecan and the country white, with a "schmear" of cream cheese, of course.

This story was written by the Waukesha Business Improvement District