Episode 521: Matthew Kosoy of Rosalind Bakery and Jerry’s Roast Pork - San Francisco, CA. From Skate Parks to Sourdough to SAMMI STARDOM. Building a Bay Area Bakery Empire One Loaf at a Time.

How does a kid immersed in the high-velocity, rebel culture of East Coast skateboarding and punk rock eventually become a leading figure in the San Francisco Bay Area bakery and restaurant scene? In this fascinating episode of the JUSTIN AND THE [FOOD] ENTREPRENEURS Show, host Justin Bizzarro sits down with Matthew Kosoy, the founder of Rosalind Bakery and Jerry’s Roast Pork. This is a story about the intersection of tech, art, and food, proving that the DIY ethos of a skateboarder translates perfectly into the grit required to build a culinary brand from the ground up. Matthew shares his journey from building websites for BMX and skate brands in Philadelphia to moving to the Bay Area. Seeking an escape from the repetitive grind of startup tech culture, he found a new obsession: baking sourdough bread. What started as a hobby in his kitchen quickly exploded into a sold-out farmer's market booth, pushing him to take the terrifying leap of leasing an abandoned 3,400-square-foot grocery store in the food desert of Pacifica. This episode is a masterclass in learning by doing and failing fast. Matthew details the sheer physical labor of building his bakery—literally chipping up concrete and doing the demolition with family and friends—while maxing out credit cards and learning the business side on the fly. He shares how his willingness to be vulnerable, hire experts (like attending the San Francisco Baking Institute), and embrace failure allowed him to survive the grueling early years. Discover how the pandemic turned Rosalind Bakery into an essential community hub, and how Matthew’s relentless drive led him to launch Jerry’s Roast Pork in downtown San Francisco. He explains how a single product—a custom-developed hoagie roll—became the "hero" that connected his baking expertise to his Philadelphia roots. Tune in to hear how Matthew is now bringing his journey full circle, combining his tech background with his baking experience to develop a new ERP software designed specifically to help small and medium-sized bakeries streamline their operations. It’s an inspiring look at how stacking your unique skills can lead to unexpected, community-changing success. Key Takeaways The DIY Mindset: How the independence, creativity, and resilience learned from skateboarding culture directly applied to the struggles of entrepreneurship. Failing Fast: Applying software development principles to food—being willing to make mistakes, learn quickly, and pivot without losing momentum. The "Hero" Product: How focusing intensely on perfecting one item (the sourdough loaf, and later the hoagie roll) creates a strong foundation for a brand. Community Building: The importance of choosing a location that needs your product (like a food desert) and growing deep roots in that neighborhood. Stacking Skills for the Future: How Matthew is combining his past as a web developer with his present as a baker to build software that will help the entire baking industry.   IG: @jerrysroastpork Address: https://www.jerrysroastpork.com/  Roast Pork Sammie Location: 2 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA.   IG: @ rosalindbakery Address: https://www.rosalindbakery.com/  Bakery Location: 450 Manor Plaza Pacifica, California 94044   Entrepreneur interested in being on the show: https://calendly.com/justin-bizzarro/podcast   Hosted By: Justin Ryan Bizzarro (IG: @justinbizzarro and LinkedIn: FOLLOW ME )   Who is Justin Ryan Bizzarro? – Justin Bizzarro is a serial food, restaurant, technology, media and marketing entrepreneur, who helped build a 24-year-old group of food and restaurant related businesses, he created with his father and business partners out of his family’s basement, in 1998. He is a highly desired business management, personal and athlete growth, free market, food diversity, and entrepreneurial leadership speaker. Justin’s expertise are in human growth, motivation, leadership and management development, health foods and beverages, global lean manufacturing facilities, vertically integrating businesses, food marketing and advertising, supply chain creation and management, direct to consumer fulfillment, transportation and distribution, personal brand building, restaurant development and construction, and entrepreneur acceleration. Justin received his BA in International Business and Management from Dickinson College, in 2002, and his MBA from University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, in 2014. He is currently pursuing his Master of Divinity in Leadership from Denver Seminary. His leadership and entrepreneur podcasts have positively impacted millions of people across the globe.   Our [ELITE] Food, Farming, Hospitality, Nutrition, and Beverage Entrepreneurs Community: Under [NEW] Construction Blog Anyone?: GorillaBrave Blog On Instagram: GorillaBrave on Instagram GorillaBrave Group on Whoop: COMM-473D96   Free Podcast.  No Advertisements.  The stories of Food, Beverage, Farming, Hospitality, and Nutrition Entrepreneurs and how their failures led to the successes in their lives and in their business.  What does the future have in store for the food, beverage, and nutrition entrepreneur?   JUSTIN AND THE [FOOD] ENTREPRENEURS Email: [email protected] Instagram: @justinandthefoodentrepreneurs ( #foodentrepreneurs )   All music is scored by host or royalty free.