Mother, daughter find success with tasty Southern favorite
CALLIE'S CHARLESTON BISCUITS

(Photo / Tyrone Walker, Charleston Post and Courier) Mother and daughter Callie White and Carrie Bailey-Morey own and operate Callie's Charleston Biscuits.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Callie White is a native of Gaffney and daughter of Billy Hartzog of Gaffney and the late Caroline

Hartzog. This story was first published in the Charleston

Post and Courier on Jan. 23, 2008, and was written by

the Post and Courier's Food Editor, Teresa Taylor.)

Carrie Bailey-Morey's goal is to have her mother's biscuits on Oprah Winfrey's annual "favorite things" list. The chances just shot up dramatically, thanks to the biscuits' debut this month on the Food Network.

Callie's Charleston Biscuits received 47,000 hits on its Web site after being featured Jan. 8 on "Unwrapped," a show that peeks behind the scenes at American goodies and how they're made. The show aired for the first time more than a year after being filmed in the fall of 2006, and Carrie and her mother, Callie White, were beginning to wonder if it ever would.

The Food Network actually germinated the idea for the mother-daughter business a few years ago.

Carrie was watching the food channel one day as her mother, a caterer, and longtime helper Pamela Reid were making ham biscuits for a party. "If I could figure out a way to package these biscuits, we could sell them," Carrie said to them. They shot back: "You're crazy. Nobody's going to buy biscuits. Why would anyone buy biscuits when they can make them?"

Her point exactly - few people are making them anymore, certainly not like in times past. But most everybody in the South, it seems, still craves a good biscuit.

Carrie, a new mother at the time, didn't have a job, but had worked as an investment adviser before getting pregnant. She wanted a career that she could balance with family responsibilities, and the biscuit idea appealed to her. She already was passionate about food and self-employment seemed flexible, she reasoned. So she began talking with local retailers and successful food entrepreneurs, such as Judith Moore of the Charleston Cookie Co.

The venture began to take shape. Packaging was a big hurdle because the already-cooked biscuits needed to remain frozen on delivery. Vacuum-sealing in plastic, and a costly machine, resolved the issue. A place to bake was another challenge; they rented J.Bistro's kitchen on days when the restaurant was closed. But they had to lug all of their baking equipment there each time.

Callie's Charleston Biscuits launched in November 2005 with a ham biscuit, the women believing in its core popularity.

"A lot of people up North perceive ham biscuits as too salty, but with Southerners, that's always their favorite, hands down," Callie says. They soon followed with buttermilk, cinnamon and cheese varieties.

Callie is picky about her biscuits, from the individual ingredients to the proper handling of the dough, to get them the way she wants: fluffy and light, no disintegrating on the first bite.

"My shopping list is pretty simple," she says. The basic dough consists of unbleached White Lily self-rising flour, cream cheese, butter and buttermilk.

"Baking powder is one of the worst tastes to me if overused, even a tiny bit," Callie explains about the selfrising flour.

The cream cheese, she says, gives the dough "a little more heft." She insists on Edwards ham from Surry, Va., a producer in business since the 1800s, and uses chipped ham instead of slices. "It's easier to eat and you don't end up with a piece of ham hanging out of your mouth."

Most importantly, the biscuits must be handmade. "There's no part of the entire process of making the biscuits that involves a machine," Carrie says.

At prices ranging from $17 to $23 a dozen, not including shipping, the women know they have a specialized, targeted market.

"You have to be a food lover and appreciate the artisanal market," Carrie says.

One such recent customer was celebrity super chef Mario Batali, who found Callie's Charleston Biscuits by randomly searching the Web. He ordered four dozen at Christmas for his family in Michigan. He wrote back, "We loved your biscuits." The women were thrilled.

"It was the ultimate compliment," says Carrie. "I was flattered - thank God," adds Callie.

Mother and daughter intentionally have separate roles in the business. "We do not get along as a whole when it comes to business," Carrie says. "It's a constant struggle to have a good relationship. So I do the business end and she does the baking."

Things have gotten smoother as the business has reached milestones, such as the purchase of a walk-in freezer and securing a permanent bakery location.

"The walk-in freezer allowed us to stockpile biscuits. Before it had been 'omigod, omigod, we're out of biscuits' during busy times," Callie says.

"It feels like a real business," adds Carrie, who is expecting her third child in four weeks. "We're grounded and can see past the next month."

Callie's Charleston Biscuits

WHAT: Founded by mother-daughter partners Callie White and Carrie Bailey-Morey in 2005, Callie's Charleston Biscuits offers four types of handmade biscuits: ham, cheese, buttermilk and cinnamon. They already are cooked and frozen, for immediate or later use.

COST: Typically $17-$23 a dozen at retail places, depending on the type; about double that for an online order of two dozen, not including shipping.

WHERE SOLD: In Charleston at specialty shops and grocers, such as Kennedy's Bakery and Market, Ted's Butcherblock, Boone Hall Farms, Home Grown Grocery/Sublime Cakes and Pies, Seaside Farms Piggly Wiggly, Folly Beach Piggly Wiggly and Newton Farms. CONTACT: 577-1198 or www.calliesbiscuits. com.