Except for a brief time in New York and Connecticut (don't hold it against her), Pam has lived in California almost all of her life. And while she came from a family of entrepreneurs, the path to Hazel Armstrong's California Confections wasn't her original intent. After spending years in the healthcare and health insurance industries and as an employee benefit's consultant, Pam authored an award-winning book on navigating the complicated US healthcare system.

A lifelong love of baking

Desiring to spend more time with her family and focus on her love of baking, she retired from her previous life and started a business called Grammy & Girls to teach her granddaughters both baking and business skills. This took her to farmer's markets, local grocery stores and community events. But as the kids grew, so did her desire to improve her confection-making skills, especially for using premium couverture chocolate and making caramel. She took classes and spent hours and hours perfecting her recipes and her processes. Her desire for perfection turned into true confectionary artisanship!

Honoring the past

With all her effort in learning how to master confectionary processes, she decided to re-imagine her grandparents' business, Mrs. Armstrong's California Dried Fruits & Nuts. Jim and Hazel Armstrong purchased the best produce from local growers and sold it to customers across the US. In their honor, Pam renamed her business after her grandmother Hazel and decided to focus on making baked goods and confections that include California-grown fruits and nuts.

Nothing leaves the kitchen until it's perfect

Within a few years, Pam developed the inventive and imaginative recipes that now have customers clamoring for more. Not one to sit back, she oversees every aspect of sourcing and production to ensure that her grandparents' legacy is honored as much as her customers' taste buds. Pam's goal is to reach ‘culinary gold' with her unique creations — making her customers fall in love at first bite.