Valerie Confections

Valerie Confections was founded in 2004 by chocolatier Valerie Gordon and her partner Stan Weightman Jr., who started the business out of their Los Angeles apartment with just six flavors of hand-dipped toffee. Gordon is self-trained rather than classically apprenticed, and built the company's reputation on modern versions of classic American confections — toffee, caramels, truffles — alongside elegant packaging aimed at the gifting market. The company grew from that toffee line into a broader confectionery and bakery business, adding petits fours, preserves, cakes (including wedding cakes), pastries, coffee, tea and sandwiches to its offering. In 2013, Gordon and Weightman opened a dedicated shop in Echo Park, which became a neighborhood fixture rather than just a production kitchen with a counter. As the business expanded, the pair outgrew their original space, moving production in 2022 into a 5,000-square-foot facility in Glendale. Gordon has been recognized within the Los Angeles food community for her confectionery work, including through the LA Food Bank's Chefs Circle program, and continues to run the company alongside Weightman more than two decades after its founding.