Food Truck to Restaurant How The Baked Bird Grew Across San Antonio Neighborhoods

If you’ve been hearing people talk about The Baked Bird and wondering what makes it worth the line, this episode answers it straight from the source.

Hosts Susie Lafredo and Alan Williams sit down with Jen and Matt Zdeb, the owners behind one of San Antonio’s most talked-about breakfast and brunch spots. This isn’t just another restaurant origin story—it’s a candid look at how a scratch-made concept survives, scales, and stays true to the craft without losing the warmth that made people fall in love with it.

From the beginning, Jen and Matt built everything around a simple promise: good food, good service. They focused on the only things they can truly control—food quality and how guests feel when they walk through the door. Matt puts it plainly: if an extra two minutes means a better plate, they’ll take the time rather than rush out something mediocre with no reason to return.

You’ll hear how that philosophy shaped every phase of their journey—from a COVID-era start selling cinnamon rolls as a cottage baker, to building momentum at markets and in neighborhoods, to running a breakfast-focused food truck across San Antonio, and finally to opening a brick-and-mortar location on Babcock Road at the corner of Babcock and Huebner, in the old Martha’s Mexican Restaurant space.

The episode also breaks down how two trained culinary professionals divide roles in a way that actually works. Jen leads the creative side—the menu names, brand personality, and fun, vibrant atmosphere. Matt handles the operational backbone—recipes, costs, SOPs, pricing discipline, and the realities of running a scratch-made kitchen.

For restaurant owners or anyone considering opening a spot, this conversation quietly delivers a critical truth: great ideas aren’t enough. You need to understand your numbers, build repeatable systems, and price like a real business. Matt’s explanation of value perception—and why scratch-made food can’t be compared to mass-produced pricing—is a clear, practical lesson without the jargon.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• How The Baked Bird grew from a cottage baking start into a San Antonio breakfast destination
• Why “good food, good service” is more than a slogan—it’s an operating principle
• The “extra two minutes” mindset and how it drives repeat customers
• Why food trucking is so demanding (and why cooking is the easy part)
• How neighborhoods and HOAs helped fuel early growth
• Why systems, costs, and SOPs matter before you scale
• How they approach pricing, portions, and value perception
• Why a fast-casual breakfast model fit their vision
• How they protect family time while still doing the unseen work
• The kind of kitchen culture they want to build: healthier hours and a team that cares

The Baked Bird Story: What Stands Out

Jen’s journey begins with cinnamon rolls and local support—selling through Nextdoor during early COVID and quickly realizing breakfast could become the long-term focus. The food truck phase followed, built on showing up everywhere, meeting people, and learning which environments actually worked for their model.

They’re also honest about the reality: food truck life isn’t romantic. It’s early mornings, equipment failures, setup and breakdown, and scratch-made prep that follows you home.

That pressure ultimately clarified the move to brick-and-mortar—more control, more space, and the ability to leave work at work while keeping a family-first rhythm intact.

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