Quail Ridge Press was started in 1978 when Barney McKee, then director of the University Press of Mississippi, brought home a cookbook manuscript that the University Press couldn't publish. His wife, Gwen McKee, thought The Twelve Days of Christmas Cookbook was too cute and clever to pass up. It was then Quail Ridge Press was born, literally on the dining room table of their home on Quail Ridge Drive in Brandon, Mississippi.

Publishing mostly cookbooks in the early years, Gwen became known as "The Cookbook Lady" and was frequently asked which book was her favorite. "An impossible decision," said McKee. "I began to list all my favorite cookbooks in Mississippi. Then Barney suggested creating a cookbook that highlighted all the best recipes from all the best cookbooks within the state." Best of the Best from Mississippi soon became a reality and the beginning of a very successful series of state cookbooks–Quail Ridge Press’ acclaimed Best of the Best State Cookbook Series.

After the Mississippi book, Gwen enlisted the help of her good friend and golf-partner, Barbara Moseley. Barbara is a country girl who was raised on a dairy farm, and Gwen is a city gal with Cajun roots. Both love to cook and have families that love to eat, so reading and trying recipes was a natural for both of them. The two have been traveling the country gathering the best cookbooks from each state for three decades now. This is the only cookbook series known to cover all fifty states.

The editors decided that some of the more exceptional recipes in the series deserved a special showcase, and consequently, the four-book Recipe Hall of Fame Cookbook Collection was established: The Recipe Hall of Fame Cookbook, Recipe Hall of Fame Dessert Cookbook, Recipe Hall of Fame Quick & Easy Cookbook , and The Recipe Hall of Fame Cookbook II.

In addition to regional and national cookbooks, Quail Ridge Press publishes a selection of outstanding regional titles.

Quail Ridge Press has come a long way from the McKee’s dining room table. "We started out as a very small company publishing primarily cookbooks, then a few regional titles," said Gwen, "but now we are branching out...there’s just no telling where we’ll go from here."