For years, Chef Justin Coleman dreamed of running his own food truck. But it wasn’t until a vivid vision of his younger brother, who died in 2016, when he knew it was time to turn the idea into reality.
“In the dream he gave me the idea for Bake’n Bacon. He was leaving bacon breadcrumbs in the dream, I found them and saw the food truck. It was pretty vivid and I just remember a black food truck and my brother was in there,” Coleman told What Now Philadelphia. “I felt like it was a letter from beyond. Although he is not physically here, the spirituality of our bond still echoes out to this day.”
From that moment, Coleman and his business partner Kelvin Alexander began brainstorming a bacon-inspired concept. In 2019, they launched their first food truck—an all-black vehicle with turquoise and pink lettering. Since then, the brand has grown to three trucks and an upscale flagship restaurant at 1148 South St.
Now, the duo is bringing Bake’n Bacon’s food truck flavor and laid-back restaurant vibe together in a new hybrid spot opening in Philadelphia’s Fashion District at 901 Market St. this fall.
“The food trucks keep us busy, and the restaurant keeps us busy as well. We didn’t want to overextend ourselves too soon. We’re about to hit our two year anniversary for the restaurant and we just hit a six year anniversary for the food trucks. We thought we should wait a bit, but I feel like everything was aligning for us to be there,” Coleman said.
He continued, “We wanted to show people in Center City who may not come to South Philly what we had to offer. This concept is more like, imagine if the food truck were stationary, where people could just go to the food truck all the time.”
The new quick-service spot will serve food truck favorites, plus breakfast on the go and lunch and dinner staples like cheesesteaks, smash burgers and their signature mac and cheese.
“Our sandwiches are top sellers–our bacon brisket sandwich which is bacon, chopped brisket and a bacon infused barbecue sauce. Our bacon burnt ends and cornbread, that also sells like crazy on the food truck. We take pork belly, we cut it up, we smoke it and then we serve it with cornbread and we do a honey butter from scratch that goes on top,” he said.
For those who aren’t bacon lovers, don’t worry—every staple meal can be made without pork.
At spot two, the menu will also feature bacon-infused milkshakes.
“We’ll be able to do our milkshakes, which we’re super excited about,” Coleman said. “We’ll do our bacon caramel milkshake, which is phenomenal. Then, we’ll do an Oreo one that has the bacon caramel in it.”
Bake’n Bacon will debut the new location on October 15 from noon to 2 p.m., with light refreshments to follow.
“I’m excited for people to have a new space that they can go to to grab food on the go,” Coleman said. “The goal is to push people to the restaurant, to the food truck, to this location so people just see our culinary skills–we have your sweet and your savory.”
For updates, visit the Bake’n Bacon’s website and follow along on Facebook and Instagram.
