How a retired Chicago Army veteran found peace and purpose through baking

At 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, with most of Chicago still asleep, Quinton McNair already was in the kitchen.

By 9 a.m., the 49-year-old had baked enough cookies, muffins and other treats to fill the display cases at his Hyde Park bakery. And McNair still had the rest of another long day ahead of him.

“We have a big day tomorrow for Veterans Day. I have a lot of veterans' catering orders,” McNair said. “After we get done with all of this, I'm going back to the kitchen and baking some more. So it's gonna be a long, long, long day.”

It is a far cry from his previous job. For 24 years, McNair was a helicopter mechanic in the Army, deploying to places across the world, including Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. He also served as a drill sergeant and later as a sexual assault response coordinator for a brigade of about 3,500 soldiers.

But McNair, who describes himself as a “deeply serious, unserious person” these days, has found a different kind of mission in baking.

When he retired in 2019 and returned to Chicago, he worked to find his footing. After decades of military life, the structure and sense of responsibility that had defined his days were suddenly gone. He struggled with PTSD and depression, felt isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic and used alcohol to cope.

“I felt like I didn't have a purpose, or I didn't know what my purpose was,” he said.

Then, almost by accident, he found baking.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

It all started after discovering an online cookie recipe. McNair thought if he could fix helicopters, he could probably figure out a cookie. His first attempt was far from delicious. But he approached baking the way he had approached fixing aircraft: by studying the science behind each ingredient and experimenting with recipes.

His early attempts were so uneven he jokingly used the hashtag “Strugglebeard Bakery,” a reference to the beard he was trying to grow out after two decades of being clean-shaven in the Army.

Eventually, the cookies got better. Soon, community members and friends began asking him to bring baked goods to events and ship them across the country. In 2020, he started a business out of his home kitchen in Matteson.

Three years later, in October 2023, he opened the Hyde Park storefront.

On Tuesday afternoon, the bakery smelled of freshly baked sweets and coffee. Military-themed art adorned the walls, and the display cases held rows of cookies, brownies and muffins, with a plethora of coffee and tea options listed on the menu.

McNair has made a point of sourcing products from other small, Black and minority-owned businesses, from the coffee and honey to the candles and tea. For him, the bakery is about more than selling something sweet.

“The driving purpose and point behind the bakery is ... to be something purposeful for the community,” McNair said.

McNair shared his story on Brief But Spectacular, which is an Emmy-nominated interview series that airs on during PBS NewsHour. The profile is now available to watch on YouTube.

Though he lives in Matteson, McNair chose Hyde Park to open the bakery because of its sense of community, where residents support local businesses and connect.

For the bakery's third anniversary in October, he organized a street festival by inviting community partners, performers and groups, including Brave Space Alliance and Kenwood Academy's band, to celebrate with him.

That commitment to community took shape before the bakery. After retiring from the Army, McNair briefly taught flight theory and helped develop curriculum at Aerostar Avion Institute, a Chicago organization that introduces young people to aviation. Watching its founder, Tammera Holmes, build an organization around giving young people opportunities helped him imagine a life of service outside the military.

“I was around these people who were using their business or their influence to do something good in the community,” McNair said. “They gave me the idea that when I finally opened up my place, I could do the same, too.”

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

It also helped him recognize that his old skills had not become obsolete. The attention to detail required to maintain a helicopter, where a single mistake could have catastrophic consequences, also mattered in baking. So did the patience, discipline and problem-solving involved in perfecting a recipe.

McNair is still Strugglebeard Bakery's only baker, often working 12- to 14-hour days

Veterans Day, he said, is a welcome moment of recognition, but he wishes that attention extended beyond one day.

“Veterans Day is when everybody else gets to pretend that they see us,” he said. “There are veterans that are hungry every day. There are veterans that are going through mental health issues and crises every day. I'm glad that we get a spotlight where the world gets to really focus in on us one day, but I wish we had that same kind of laser focus 365 days of the year.”

McNair initially turned to baking as a distraction from his struggles. It wasn't until he turned to therapy that he began confronting his emotions and learning to manage them. He jokes his biggest unhealthy habit now is working too much.

McNair's next goal? To get the bakery running without him having to oversee every detail, from baking to payroll. He wants to spend more time working with community organizations and speaking about his experiences.

“Right now, the point is to get this place running where I'm not the single point of failure, where it doesn't need me,” McNair said. “And then, I will feel truly, truly successful.”