This journey began in the summer of 2000. Money was tight for my husband and me. We had two little ones and I could not stand the thought of being apart from them daily. So, what could I do from home to help us through this tight spot? I drew off what I knew.

When I was a young girl my family had moved from central Ohio to southern Michigan. During our stay in Michigan my parents decided to help our elderly neighbor by managing her beautiful cherry Orchard. We spent most of our summers there in that orchard. My sister and I not only picked cherries, but we also found it was very easy to sell homemade cherry pies to the customers. My mom, my sister and I often found ourselves taking pie orders throughout the year, giving us extra cash to travel back to Ohio to see family. So, when times got tight, I knew just what to do. I started a home bakery called Simply Sweet. The name represented the foundational design of the bakery. The product offering would be simple everyday favorites with NO preservatives and the sweet… well that just makes everything better (You know what they say about a spoonful of sugar.) Every Friday, April through October, I baked all day and well into the early morning hours to sell baked goods at the Mt. Vernon Farmer’s market. It was a perfect solution. I got to stay home with my children, and we loved going to the Farmer’s market on the weekend.

I had been buying my 50-pound bags of flour from a little bulk food store called Taste of Country in Fredericktown. One day I went to pick up my flour and the owners informed me that they would be closing, and that I would need to buy my flour elsewhere. On July 8th, 2003, we reopened the that little deli and bulk food store a mere few weeks after that initial closing discussion. Needless to say, I have been on a steep learning curve ever since. Taste of Country took me away from my baking for several years but, in 2012, I started getting back to my baking, and we picked up our first wholesale bakery account. Soon we were baking through the night, packaging the baked goods - which would fill all the deli dining room tables. Those baked goods then had to be delivered before the lunch crowd arrived. It was crazy! It did not take long for the bakery orders to get too large to be processed at Taste of Country. By 2014 we purchased the old elementary school building to expand the bakery. We now deliver our baked goods all over central Ohio. Between the deli and bakery, we employ over 20 team members.

2003

2022

The business has grown so much over the past 20 years. As 2020 drew to a close I found myself much in the same situation that caused me to start this journey in 2000. Just like most retail food establishments, we too had been drastically affected by the shutdowns and topsy turvy nature of that year. Suddenly, we lost over a third of our income that was brought to us by two cafes that we provided food management for, as well as ALL our catering revenues. It was a rough year. But just as I did 20 years ago, I looked deep and prayed hard to find a direction I could pivot the company towards to maintain jobs, and support the families that depend on the business for financial survival. So our sole focus was put into expanding the bakery’s potential.

As a company, our mission statement is, “To inspire everyone to spread kindness with the sense of caring & friendship that great food can bring to the table.” I truly love being a business owner, specifically, in the food industry. You see, I have been privy to watch how food is so much more than a means to sustain life. It is a tradition in the celebration at a wedding, a baby shower, or Grandma’s 90th birthday. It is the comfort of family shared over a “celebration of life” dinner. It is a warm hug to a widower who does not know exactly what to do with himself and finds himself at our table with a warm meal and a kind heart to set with him for a moment. The perfect food can sometimes say it better than words. My team members are all so good at living and demonstrating our company’s mission with such genuine kindness.

I truly hope that our family of businesses will give you a way to say, “I love you”, “I miss you”, “I care”, “Congratulations”! So, the business that was born out of necessity and designed with love goes on to fulfill our mission to spread kindness to a greater level as we distribute our baked goods all over the State of Ohio and ship around the world.

We give God thanks for seeing us through this journey. We hope that you will enjoy the handcrafted products we will be providing for you and your loved ones.

Sincerely,

Tricia Styers