THE CORNBREAD STORY
IT STARTED WITH FOOD. THEN CAME LOVE. THEN CAME CORNBREAD.
Cornbread26 was born from a shared love of food, hospitality and the belief that some of life’s best moments happen around a table.
But before there was Cornbread26, there were Craig and Claude.
THE FOOD…
For Craig Baker, food has always been about more than what’s on the plate.
A lifelong passion for cooking eventually led Craig to the first season of MasterChef USA, where he had the opportunity to cook for Gordon Ramsay and share his talent with a national audience.
But Craig’s greatest inspiration has always come from something much closer to home: the comfort foods we know and love, the dishes that bring people together and the memories created around them.
His approach is simple: begin with something familiar, treat it with care, and find a way to make it unexpected.
That philosophy would eventually become an essential part of Cornbread26.
THE HOSPITALITY…
Claude Malone has always believed that how you make someone feel matters just as much as what you put on their plate.
With a natural instinct for hospitality, presentation and the details that make an experience feel special, Claude brought a complementary perspective to Craig’s love of food.
Where Craig saw ingredients, Claude saw an experience.
The table. The presentation. The service. The atmosphere. The moment a guest walks into the room—and how they feel when they leave it.
Together, those two perspectives became the foundation for something neither of them originally set out to create.
THEN CAME LOVE….
Craig and Claude met in New York and quickly discovered that food was one of the many things they had in common.
Cooking became part of their life together. So did entertaining, experimenting with recipes and finding reasons to gather people around a table.
What began as a shared passion gradually became something more.
A business.
And, eventually, a marriage.
In February 2026, Craig and Claude were married in a private ceremony in California—another chapter in a story that has always had food, love and hospitality at its center.
THEN CAME CORNBREAD!
FROM ONE KITCHEN TO COUNTLESS TABLES
In 2016, Craig and Claude began laying the foundation for what would become Cornbread26.
The idea wasn’t to create just another catering company.
They wanted to create the kind of catering experience they would want to receive themselves: personal, thoughtful, beautifully presented and genuinely warm.
A place where comfort food could be elevated without becoming unrecognizable.
Where exceptional service didn’t have to feel formal or impersonal.
And where every client—whether planning an intimate gathering or a major celebration—felt cared for.
That philosophy has taken Cornbread26 from its earliest events to catering for private clients, celebrations and some of the world’s most recognizable companies and brands.
Yet the idea at the heart of the company remains remarkably simple:
Make delicious food. Take care of people. Pay attention to the details.
Where Craig saw ingredients, Claude saw an experience.
WHY THE NAME CORNBREAD26?
Some names are created. Others seem to find you.
Ours began on May 26th, 2015—the day we met, which also happened to be Claude’s birthday.
As our relationship grew, the number 26 began appearing in the most unexpected places. On clocks. On screens. On street signs. Sometimes at moments that felt far too perfectly timed to ignore.
Coincidence? Perhaps.
But to us, 26 came to represent something more: love, good fortune, and the quiet reassurance that we were exactly where we were supposed to be.
Food was already becoming an important part of our story. We loved cooking, entertaining, and creating the kind of experiences that made people feel genuinely cared for. Some of our earliest creations were a collection of cornbread recipes, including a little twist on a classic that would eventually become one of our signatures: the Cornbread Madeleine.
When the time came to give our new venture a name, the answer had been with us all along.
Cornbread represented what
we created.
26 represented why we created
it together.
And so, Cornbread26 was born.
What started with two people, a few recipes, and a number that kept following them has grown into something far greater than we imagined—a company built around food, hospitality, creativity, and the belief that the smallest detail can make people feel extraordinarily cared for.
Love. Good fortune. And the feeling that some things are simply meant to be.
COMFORT FOOD, REIMAGINED
Today, Cornbread26 is a boutique New York catering and events company built around a distinctly personal approach to hospitality.
Our menus celebrate comfort food through a more thoughtful lens—honoring the flavors and dishes people love while introducing unexpected ingredients, beautiful presentation and a little Cornbread26 personality.
But food is only part of what we do.
We listen.
We customize.
We obsess over details.
And we care deeply about creating an experience that feels effortless for our clients and memorable for their guests.
Because after all these years, we’re still guided by the same belief that started everything:
Great food brings people to the table.
Great hospitality makes them want to stay.
FROM OUR TABLE TO YOURS
Whether you’re planning an intimate dinner, a corporate gathering or something entirely your own, we’d be honored to be part of it.
Tell us what you’re imagining.
We’ll take it from there.
