Today marks a very special day in the history books of the Douglas Shire as locals will now be able to get their wildly delicious doughnuts ‘on-demand’ with the official opening of Duke’s one-and-only bakery in Mossman.

The success story of Duke’s Doughnuts all started with the birth of Mike and Sally Miller’s third son, Luke.

“All we wanted out of Duke's to begin with was an extra $200 a week to pay off the debit of our third child being born under complicated circumstances,” Ms Miller said.

“Mike started making doughnuts at home, just playing with recipes and we thought if we could sell them at the markets while he was still working at Mocka’s, it would get us out of trouble.”

Community focussed

Soon the doughnuts were a great hit around town with many locals and visitors lining up every Sunday at the Port Douglas markets to score the irresistible delicious sweet treats.

“The secret behind our success beside hard work is the support and advice from other local business owners,” Ms Miller said.

“Gone are the days of business owners being pitted against each other. There has been a major turn in this over the last 10 years in Port Douglas.

“We have always had a shop in the back of our mind and looked at many different options over the years but we wanted to wait until all our children were in school before we could commit to such a big change. We took on the role of Foster Carers so things got pushed back a little.

“Our kids all go to Mossman State school even though we live in Port. We have a child with autism and the school and the Mossman community has been an incredible support to us.

“We have always wanted to be more involved with the Mossman Community and we hope to implement a programme for youth offenders and kids at risk to teach them basic cooking skills and support them with mentorship.”