A catering master with three decades of experience managing backstage food for VIPs. A chef who worked with Michelin-starred chefs and luxury resorts around the world. The two met working at the San Jose Shark’s Grill Restaurant. Sparks fly, they marry, have two sons and together become house caterers for the Sharks. They open their own outpost at Levi’s Stadium, cooking for teams from football to hockey, from backstage to aboard private planes.
Meet Madelyn and Rodney Baca, who together have carved a unique food niche in the Bay Area.
Born and raised in East San Jose, Madelyn started working at a San Jose deli at age 18. While she was earning a degree in business arts, a baking class with German chef Jan Nyssen ignited her love of food. She started working for Bon Appétit Management Company where eventually she was promoted to running their catering department and opening cafés. Her next career step was to catering manager for the giants of Silicon Valley, where she worked at Aramark at the SAP Center, mastering the management of backstage with musical artists and athletes.
Rodney is an Albuquerque native who cooked at Ritz-Carltons from the Virgin islands to Barcelona, at Le Méridian hotels in Beverly Hills and Nice, and consulted on restaurants from Rome to Paris. He trained under legendary chefs like Gérard Ferry of Michelin-two-starred L’Orangerie and James Beard Award–winning George Mahaffey. Rodney also held stints as executive chef of the Paul Masson Mountain Winery, opening his first restaurant in Santa Monica in 2006. While chef for the Sharks, Rodney expanded his catering business and formed Baca Sauces, creating jarred sauces like his red and green New Mexican chili salsas, drawing on his ABQ roots while featuring local NorCal ingredients like Gilroy garlic and Watsonville heirloom tomatoes.
As Madelyn and Rodney married in 2019, they pooled their industry expertise to open The Shop by Chef Baca, their own catering kitchen and café on the Valley Transit Authority (VTA) campus. They opened a second The Shop in Levi’s Stadium, where San Francisco 49ers’ fans flock for Rodney’s beloved pastrami sandwich. The Bacas also manage backstage and club catering, private events and gourmet private flight services for NHL, NFL and NBA teams. They plan to soon open a kiosk at Chase Center, expanding to the Warriors and basketball fans. It seems there is no category of sports team they can’t reach with their heartwarming cooking.
Big picture, Rodney is the chef and Madelyn the business savvy, but they run logistics and details together—down to sourcing ingredients and creating recipes.
“We’ve entered a fun and challenging space within the hospitality world,” says Madelyn. “We continue to grow and thrive in the sports industry—flights, locker room feedings, private parties, educational events—like teaching players how to make healthy but easy lunches, dinners and snacks.”
Fortitude of the players is a key factor not every chef has to think about, as the Bacas meet with team nutritionists to ensure protein and health needs are adhered to … deliciously. Famed hockey player Yevgeni (aka Nabby) Nabokov raves, “All the boys love when [Rodney] comes to the rink and makes different lunches for us. Also, he is a great guy and communicates with everybody really well. Food is always tasty, fresh and healthy, which is very important for us.”
Sharks President Jonathan Becher expounds, “Baca Catering provides quality healthy meals for the San Jose Barracuda hockey team and on flights to San Jose Sharks away games. In both cases, they work closely with team nutritionists to design meals which are appealing to players but meet the demanding needs of their training and game regimens. Baca Catering feels like a member of Team Teal.”
With California being the mecca of U.S. produce, the Bacas take local sourcing and relationships seriously, forming direct relationships with farms like LJB Farms in San Martin and Sanchez Farm in Watsonville. Seasonal recipes are anticipated annually, like their version of the Bay Area favorite IT’S-IT Ice Cream and tiramisu in mason jars.
“People always ask me, ‘What’s your favorite thing to cook?’” says Rodney. “I’m, like, ‘Whatever my next menu is,’ you know? Because it’s so diverse and all over the board.” Whether he’s cooking poutine for homesick Canadian hockey players or taking inspiration from the Bay Area’s endless diversity, the Bacas balance it all with health and nurturing comfort.
“We continue to grow and thrive in the sports industry—flights, locker room feedings, private parties, education events—like teaching players how to make healthy but easy lunches, dinners and snacks.”
—Madelyn Baca
Sharks’ Becher talks favorite dishes, “I’ve personally attended multiple events catered by Baca. Their seven-course themed meals evoke the culture and heritage of a region. My personal favorites highlight Rodney’s New Mexican heritage. My mouth is watering thinking of his sopapilla stuffed with carne adovada … You can almost always find me in line for his famous pastrami.”
Beyond Rodney’s carne adovada sopapillas, his roots show up often in dishes like braised short rib in green chile barbecue sauce, yucca corn cake and Albuquerque-style pinto beans. “Our avocado relish, it’s unique,” says Rodney. “It has basil and red wine vinegar. It’s got a lot of love.”
Madelyn often creates or is the impetus behind concepts as the two work on recipes and prep together. “She actually makes a lot of the menus,” Rodney says, “challenging me to figure out how to make them.
Like the pastrami. As Rodney tells the tale, “Madelyn said, ‘I want a New York–style pastrami, something like Katz’s [Deli], but I want it to be ours and be amazing. Can you come up with that?’ In my head, I’m, like, ‘I got it. Not even a problem.’ Mind you—I’ve never made pastrami. Because I’m from New Mexico, I want to infuse a lot of New Mexico product into things… So I go and brine it. I do all these things.”
He continues, “Madelyn tastes it, spits it out and says, ‘I asked for a New York–style pastrami. Can we fix that, please?’” He concludes. “It took me about a year to get it down and get everything right. Since then, the pastrami has kind of exploded. I mean, people love it. That’s all because of her, so I have to give credit where credit’s due.”
The hospitality industry has long had its struggles but amid everything from the ongoing fallout of the pandemic to the negative impact of tariffs on U.S. farmers, the food world ever remains a challenging space. Rising food prices and inconsistent products are just a couple of problems Rodney names. “We continue to source our product through local vendors and sometimes it’s hard to compete with the big boys, because once you find a farm, it could be gobbled up or bankrupted,” he says.
But as a team, the Bacas have faithfully pushed forward to be trusted in the region, winning the loyalty of major sports teams. Looking to the future, Madelyn says, “This is a journey that we embrace and humbly continue to grow with. Working in the sports world has allowed our own personal nutrition and knowledge to continue to develop.”
The Sharks’ Becher dubs them no less than San Jose treasures. “Perhaps most importantly, Rodney and Madelyn are authentically genuine people, easy to work with and proud to represent San Jose.”
