Four years ago, Mike Kelly traded big rigs for a doughnut gig.

Kelly managed truck drivers all over the country his entire career, but in 2009, he decided he wanted to try something different: doughnuts. And two months ago, he turned the out-of-business Daylight Donuts on Perdido Beach Boulevard into his original doughnut shop, City Donut.

“I made a lot of money for a lot of corporations, and I thought, 'If I don't do something for myself, I'm going to end up kicking myself,'” says Kelly, who after quitting the trucking industry ran a Daylight Donuts location in Pensacola for three years. “And this year was a good time to leave Daylight and create our own brand and style, get away from cookie cutter mold of a franchise. We try to be creative, and we throw out something new every day.

The doughnut business may seem like a sweet deal — make doughnuts; sell doughnuts — but it's not that simple, Kelly says.

In order to have fresh doughnuts available every day, baker Herman Eads starts baking at about 1 a.m. Kelly arrives at 3 a.m., and even though the store closes at noon, he doesn't leave until 6 p.m.

Kelly tracks the daily number of customers as well as how many doughnuts he sells, and each day, he has to make an estimate of how many people he thinks will show up. If he guesses incorrectly, he has to throw away doughnuts or turn people away when the store runs out.

“Every day is a guessing game,” Kelly says. “You can't make a made-to-order donut, so we try to keep up with statistics and use them as references. We consider the weather, the occupancy of hotels and holidays.The object is to sell out as close to closing time as possible. Usually, I only have one or two trays left at the end of the day.”

And because of inflation of items like flour, shortening and paper products, the profit margin in the doughnut business is small.

“You have to constantly make sure you're improving every day,” “We can't raise the price of a doughnut to $1.50, so you have to manage everything penny by penny. You try to constantly come up with new ways to be more efficient.”

But even though it's hard work, Kelly says he loves being able to make people smile every day. Not working with a franchise also allows him to be creative, and he encourages his staff to come up with crazy ideas — everything from bubble gum to cereal to sour gummy worms have adorned the doughnuts.

“This is a vacation area,” he says. “People are here to have fun. We try to have as much fun with customers as possible and give them a good experience. We're really excited. I like the area, and I like the people down here.”

Business profile

NAME: City Donut

TIME IN BUSINESS: Two months

LOCATION: Zeke's Landing, Perdido Beach Boulevard (formerly Daylight Donuts)

OWNER: Mike Kelly

SERVING: Doughnuts, apple fritters, bagels, coffee, frozen drinks

HOURS: 6 a.m. to noon daily

CONTACT: 251-981-3688, CityDonutOB.com