They say it’s better to be lucky than good. Shannon Fuller is lucky AND good. The president and CEO of upstart wood manufacturer Baker’s Creek always seems to be in the right place at the right time, and knocks the ball out of the park when it’s his turn at bat.

Fuller, the director of research and development for Bruce Hardwood Floors from 1988 to 1996, was responsible for developing the technology for WearMaster impregnated hardwood. That’s good. Later on he was the minority part of a two-man purchase of Capella from Anderson Tully. Thirteen months later the company was sold to Armstrong for seven times the investment. That’s lucky. And now he is at it again with the launch of Baker’s Creek Premium Wood Flooring.

Baker’s Creek was born and resides on farmland in middle-of-nowhere Mississippi. It’s halfway between Jackson and Vicksburg, which this Yankee was told is a famous Civil War spot. But don’t be fooled by the surroundings.

The Baker’s Creek line is quite unique. How unique? For starters, there is no red oak in the 36-SKU line. Rather, it caters to the high-end market with domestic species such as American cypress, American cherry, heart pine, walnut, pecan and mesquite. The idea was that by concentrating on domestic species, Baker’s Creek would not be disrupting any rainforests but sill offer something very different and eye catching.

“When we started the company, we wanted to say to people, ‘We are doing very high-end products, products you have never seen before, and we are doing it on a national scale,’” Fuller said, adding that no other manufacturer in the country can do handscraped mesquite on a national level.

Focusing on wider widths and longer lengths, Fuller calls the all-engineered line a second or third upgrade. “Our entry-level product would be a 5-inch pecan, which retails for $6; our highest-end product is a mesquite that would retail for $17.”

In case you are wondering about mesquite, so was I until Fuller gave me an education. Mesquite is a scrub tree that yields wood chips for barbecues. Indigenous to south Texas, the species offers divergent grains and textures, and its hardness makes it suitable for light commercial applications. Now you know.

Then there’s reclaimed heart pine in 7-inch widths, a product Fuller believes may be more green than anything the industry offers because it is 100% recycled. “It comes out of old cotton mills that are being demolished. Some of the wood comes from trees from the 1600s and 1700s.”

The next step for Baker’s Creek is to solidify distribution. Fuller is seeking a special breed of distributor—“those that know how to get to that high-end retailer.”

Good or lucky? Baker’s Creek is a little of both.