Winter 2020

17 Mar20061 Sweet Dreams Are Made of This Dulces Sueños, which in English translates to ‘Sweet Dreams’, is the award-winning bakery situated in North-West Spain that is earning international recognition for its delicious treats, served with outstanding customer service. Established four years ago and run by Maria Nela Bello Rodriguez, this is the second time the small but ambitious bakery has earnt its place in LUXlife Magazine. In the little town of Culleredo in the North West of Spain is the Dulces Sueños bakery, a cosy and sweet bakery created by Maria Nela Bello Rodriguez. Offering personalised cakes, scrumptious pastries, tempting breakfasts and brunches as well as coffee tasting and workshop experiences, Dulces Sueños may be small in size, but its vision is enormous. Maria’s creative process is totally unique and every day takes an approach that is completely different to the day before. One day, she might present her guests with an unexpected yet wondrous flavour combination, the next, a brand-new recipe exhibiting her technical skills and flair for culinary creativity. Every day, she builds from the ground up, ensuring freshness in everything from her ideas to her ingredients, which are sourced from local, high-quality suppliers as much as possible. As a result, Dulces Sueños has been evolving and improving since day one, but this paradise of patisserie has never wavered from its true mission; to fulfil its customers’ sweetest dreams. The icing on the cake is the excellence in customer service received by every one of Dulce Sueños’ visitors. Whether they are stopping by to grab a pastry for breakfast or taking part in one of Maria’s classes, every customer is treated with friendly, professional and conscientious care. In the four years since Dulces Sueños first opened its doors, this charismatic, customer-centric approach has been instrumental in building a sense of community around the bakery, which pushes Maria to always deliver fresh, innovative and delicious goods for the Dulces Sueños family. Maria and Dulces Sueños were faced by their biggest challenge in four years earlier this year when the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the globe. After dealing with the initial fears and uncertainties that it presented for both health and business, Maria took the time to come up with a strategy of how to pull through an unprecedented period. She decided to embark on a solo mission to continue providing her delicious sweet treats and breakfast products to her customers through an online delivery service. Working on her own and transporting deliveries for miles around was of course taxing at times, but Maria’s commitment to the best in customer service meant she was undeterred. The resilience of Dulces Sueños paid off and Maria is now able to look at resuming business in the new normal of a post-Covid-19 landscape. Having realised the importance of her own hard work and passion, all those that she recruits to help her at Dulces Sueños will be trained to implement these same attributes in their work, as they look to expand the already comprehensive offering of the bakery. With even more tasting experiences, cooking classes and workshops in the works for when the pandemic truly cools off, Maria is staying true to her own commitment to resilience, improvement and evolution for both herself and her bakery. As a result, she is able to continue living her own sweet dreams of feeding the Dulces Sueños family with tasty pastries and goods that are out of this world. Contact: Maria Nela Bello Rodriguez Facebook: @dulcesuenosvilaboa183 | Instagram: @nela_bello