Chefs Justin Coleman and Kelvin Alexander of Bake’N Bacon made their return to the Essence Festival of Culture for the second year in a row, representing their Philadelphia-based brand during the Food & Wine segment.
Coleman and Alexander launched Bake’N Bacon in 2019 with their first food truck, which has grown into three food trucks, along with a brick-and-mortar restaurant and an event space.
For Coleman, food started at home with his grandmothers and great-grandmothers.
“I would just be around them and just pick up things,” Coleman said. “I was their taste tester. I held their index cards and would read it out to them. So cooking just really comes from home, I would say. And it’s this place within me that I feel like is home. It’s like my love language. It’s a way to show people that you care from the time and the preparation that it takes to do things.”
Alexander found his way into the food world through desserts as “a kid that loved sweets.”
“I like to make different creations,” he shared. “I kind of ran with that as I got older—coming up with different creations for pastries, desserts. That’s what we do now at the restaurant. I’m able to make the desserts and come up with different creations on the dessert menu.”
Coleman said their first Essence Fest experience in 2024 “set such a high bar of the Black experience.” He added that returning in 2025 brought another year of celebration and joy held to the same high standard.
“I used to read the magazine as a kid and as a teenager, so to be here… I’m still like blown away,” Coleman shared. “It still feels like a dream. I’ve been on Food Network before. Kelvin and I both have been named men of influence in Philadelphia. So we’ve done a lot of hustling to get our name out there. But it’s something about being within our culture here at Essence that just makes it that much more special.”
With a current Google review rating of 4.8, with over 1600 reviews, the pair earned bragging rights as they continue to expand their brand.
Bake’N Bacon serves up bold, flavor-packed breakfasts, sandwiches, desserts, and sides crafted from gourmet proteins, veggies, jams, and sauces.
“We’ve been open a year and a half, but it’ll be six years in business for our food trucks,” Coleman shared. “We’ve been hustling, we’ve been climbing our way up to the top and just being humble along the way, listening to God and just following that journey.”
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