Meet Mikala Everson | Owner & Head Pastry Chef

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mikala Everson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mikala, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important factor to my success is the change I want to be in our industry. The restaurant world isn’t known to have the best work environment or lifestyle. When I was “growing up” in this industry, I saw the toll it took on me and my peers around me. I fell in love with the creative, fun, and active side of the industry. However, the fun loving side came with a tough price. I told myself when I get the chance to run my place, I will create a space for the good and do my best to change the bad. I knew we can do better then this. I focus heavily on supporting my staff and making them feel like they have the room to be creative, make mistakes, and still learn while doing it. My staff is right there with me on whatever crazy adventure I want to go on. We have a unique concept that gives our customers so many choices and I knew it would take a special group to pull it off. That would require a discipline most people aren’t willing to have and I knew that had to start with me. I am very proud of how far we’ve come but I can’t wait to see how far we’ll go.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Granny’s bakery is a one stop shop. We have a charming open concept with a homey feel to it. We tried to renovated a old house that was preexisting, but due to the current state it was in we couldn’t renovate it. We made sure to save all the original siting so we can put in back in the bakery and we also kept the original layout (with a large addition) to it to make sure it still showed that we wanted to keep it as close to what was there before. From the moment you walk into the bakery, you can see our coffee machine and drink fridge on the right. We think its a perfect compliment to all the other things we offer at the shop. On the left you will see our pastry kitchen. One of the first thing you see when you inside the pastry kitchen is our first 40 out of our 57 cakes sketched on the wall. Its a fun way to see all the flavors we offer as well as bringing color to the room. We have all of our prep tables and shelves open so you can see us work in real time. When you look straight ahead you see an entire 2006 Volkswagen bug that is now our cookie and brownie display. It was my first car when I was 16. I fell in love with my car and couldn’t part with it, so when I was looking up displays for the bakery I thought how fun would it be to bring the car in. When you walk past the car you will see the savory kitchen. In the savory kitchen you will see all of our bread, cakes, brownies, cookies, etc. being baked. This kitchen is also open so you can watch us make them here too. When you walk past that kitchen we have our breads wall where you can pick up bread we make daily (we offer flavors like sourdough, jalapeno cheddar, black pepper parmesan, and so much more). I am a Sommelier, so I have a small selection of wine and beer for people to purchase with their baked goods. One of my favorite parts of the bakery is my large first responder wall. My dad and many other family members are first responders. I appreciate the sacrifices they make for us everyday, so I wanted to highlight that in the shop. We have all 50 states between police and fire patches that add a special touch to the store. We offer classes and camps so you can feel like a baker too. We post them on our website and promote them on our social media. We do bread making classes, cake decorating classes, wine tastings, kids summer camp, and many more.

The overall theme of the bakery is love. There is so much love that went into this place and you can feel it when you come in. All the personal touches that mean something to me, the affirmation covered bathrooms, the first responder wall, and the made with love stickers are there to make sure to accomplish that. Its a special thing to see. Its all because my Granny taught me the most important lesson (which is do everything with love and for the love of others).

My journey wasn’t the easiest, but I always remembered my why. Why I did this, why I wanted to make a difference, and who I did this for. After a ton of prayer and waiting for God’s timing, I knew this is where I needed to be. I learned that what I wanted wasn’t always what the customer wants. I learned that everyone on my staff has different strengths and to lean on those. I learned that this is a lot of hard work, but I love coming to work everyday. I learned a WHOLE LOT about construction because I have never built a house or store before, so I got the fast track version of how it works at the ripe age of 24. I learned that budgeting and costing is what makes or breaks your business as well as marketing.

The biggest thing I want people to know about me and my story is this may be my life passion, but the real glory goes to Granny. She passed my sophomore year in high school. She and I always talked about doing this together and I knew this was what I was called to do when she passed. My college that I attended came to recruit at my high school the week after she passed. I wanted people to how see/feel how well she loved people and the lessons she taught me. At Granny’s we want you to feel like family.. well because you are.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
CELINA Eat &Drinks- Toasted Walnut, Tender Smokehouse, Papa Gallos, Bongo Beauxs, Valley Vines
Hangouts- Downtown Square

PROSPER
Eat &Drinks- The Gin, Shakertins, Brass Tap, Six Sips Coffee
Hangouts- Gates of Prosper

FRISCO
Eat &Drinks- The Star (Sushi Marquee, La Parisienne), Berries and Batter for Brunch, Pizzeria Testa, Huchins BBQ
Hangouts- The Star, Stonebriar Mall, Nerdvana, Roughriders Games, Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar

THE COLONY
Eat &Drinks- Hard Eight, Bread Zeppelin, Seven Doors, The Yard Milkshakes
hangout- Top Golf, Grandscape (The Puttery)

PLANO
Eat &Drinks- Seapot, North Italia, Biscuit Bar
Hangouts- Fowling Warehouse, Legacy West

MCKINNEY
Eat &Drinks- Mary Mountain Cookies, Cocktail Creamery, Landon’s Winery
Hangouts- Downtown Square

DFW
Eat &Drinks- The Brand Room,
Hangouts- Billy Bobs, Red River, Stockyards, Events at American Airlines Center, Galleria Mall

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many people I would love to give a shoutout to. My family is first and foremost! They are the ones who believed in me, motivated me to keep going, and helped me at the drop of the hat with anything related to the shop. I would be here today without them.

I want to shoutout The Culinary Institute of America for training me and giving me the resources to make my dreams a reality. My education and background came from this amazing school.

The last group I want to shoutout is the Celina community and everyone that makes this town great. They loved my vision, dreams, and supported me from the very beginning. I felt the love from when I was supplying local restaurants with cake all the way to our doors opening up to our shop. I am blessed to be apart of the downtown square and can’t wait to keep serving them.

Website: https://grannyssweeties.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grannys_bakery_celinatx/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/grannyssweetiescakeandconfections/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/granny-s-celina?osq=grannys+bakery

Other: TikTok: grannys_bakery