A Perfect Pear

When you live in the pear capital of the world, it’s not hard to fall in love with this delicately perfumed fruit that Greek poet Homer called, “Gift of the Gods.” That’s what happened to Susan Knapp, founder and CEO of A Perfect Pear when she lived in Lake County, California.

Susan traded vegetables with a pear farmer down the road and began making pear jelly and condiments as a hobby in the 1980s. Soon, she discovered a demand for high-quality and unique gourmet condiments—and a lack of pear-based products in the marketplace.

Susan then created four items: Cinnamon Pear Jelly, Cinnamon Pear Vinegar, Tomato Pear Chutney and Tomato Cinnamon Clove Preserves (aka, “Grandma’s Ham Sauce”). Each product won either 1st or 2nd place awards at the 1998 Alameda County Fair, Lake County Fair and California State Fair—prompting Susan to launch Aunt Sue’s, Inc.

In 2003, Susan retired as a marketing executive to grow Aunt Sue’s into A Perfect Pear from California’s Napa Valley. Renowned for world-class winemaking, Napa is a perfect fit for A Perfect Pear to come into it’s own as a gold standard culinary cache for gourmands.

A new logo and elegant packaging combined with consistent top quality and uniquely blended flavors helped the brand gain widespread recognition—even as the products themselves continued winning awards at competitions all over North America.

In 2006, Susan won two prestigious awards: 1) American Express OPEN® Make Mine A Million, and 2) National Association of Women Business Owners’ Rising Star Award.

In 2007 A Perfect Pear got its first international distributor in Canada. By early 2008, A Perfect Pear began selling commercially in Baja California and El Salvador, with interest from buyers in Taiwan, Japan, Great Britain, Bahrain and France.  

Hitting perfect pitch in 2009, A Perfect Pear entered into a partnership with an investor on ABC-TV’s “Shark Tank,” a reality TV show. The rest is a classic “her-story” as Susan Knapp continues driving a market leader in the gourmet food industry. A Perfect Pear is the only supplier of all-natural gourmet products based primarily on the peerless pear.