Page 104 - South Mississippi Living - September, 2020

QUALITY BAKERY
Danielle White, Fourth-Generation Owner
story by Lynn Lofton photos by Thettra Brown-Shugart
Any business that’s lasted 70 years has a good track record. Such a business is Quality Bakery of Gulfport which not only celebrated the 70-years milestone last year but has remained in the same
Current owner Danielle White, who took over in November of 2018, is from a long line of bakers. The original owners were her great grandparents, James Alfred (Mack) and Rose Mcknight, Sr. They were followed by her grandparents, Al and Cecelia Mcknight, who ran Quality Bakery for 22 years and then her uncle, Patrick Mcknight from 1987 until November of 2018. The business was on 13th Street until after Hurricane Camille when it moved to the current location on 25th Avenue (Highway 49).
Asked if outstanding bakers run in her family, White responded, “Honestly, it all started with my great grandfather going to baking school in New Orleans. He decided to move to the Coast and open a bakery, and the bakery has been passed down generation to generation.”
family since its founding in 1949.
Quality Bakery is not a chain business, meaning that all of their recipes are original family recipes. “When I took over, I updated a lot of items and started some new things so
they would be the only ‘non originals,’” White said.
Saying they buy
sugar and our
by bulk is an
understatement. “In
a normal week we
can use between four
to eight 50-pound sacks
of our – two di erent kinds;
di erent ours for di erent items. We
use the same amount of granulated and powdered sugar,” White said. “We are known for our brownies and we easily sell
three to ve pans of them a day along with our petit fours.”
As a small business owner, White’s biggest challenge during the
pandemic is trying to gure out the new and hopefully
temporary normal. “I’ve had to adjust hours
because a lot of o ces around us are still closed, which has hurt our breakfast business
a lot,” she said. “Every day is di erent. We are just trying to stay creative to bring
in business and keep a oat.” The future of the business seems secure
as White’s six-year-old daughter Hadlee Ann is already hands on and well known among the Quality Bakery fan base.
Quality Bakery | 1623 25th Ave., Gulfport | 228.863.7814 | Facebook @quality.bakery.gpt
104 | September 2020 www.smliving.net | SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living