Welcome to Partner Provisions, where we introduce you to the incredible people and stories behind the restaurants, food trucks and caterers helping Zerocater feed the workforce – breakfast, lunch, dinner and every meal in between.
- Name: Alex Melzer
- Restaurant: Early Bird Tacos
- Cuisine: Breakfast Tacos
- City: San Francisco
- Website: earlybirdtacos.com
- Instagram Handle: @earlybirdtacos
- Twitter Handle: @earlybirdtacos
In one sentence tell us who Early Bird Tacos is.
The breakfast game has grown tired and Early Bird Tacos is bringing it back to life!
Tell us about Early Bird Tacos!
Prior to San Francisco, we lived in Austin where breakfast tacos run like water. When we moved to San Francisco we were surprised and sad to see that there were no breakfast tacos! Everyone is still eating bagels, donuts, or in some cases smoothies which we found boring and left us dragging through the morning. Californians deserve great breakfast tacos, so we set out on a mission to revolutionize the breakfast game.
What was the very first menu item?
When we first launched it was 3 tacos, 2 salsas, and no substitutions. We now typically offer 6-7 taco options paired with 3-4 homemade salsas. Our tacos always include a mix of classic breakfast favorites – eggs, bacon, hash browns – as well as seasonal or specialty ingredients from great local providers.
Tell us about one of your signature dishes!
When we perfected the Dirty Bird, our most popular menu item – scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, hash browns, and jack & cheddar cheese in a warm flour tortilla – and smothered it with our homemade jalapeno salsa we knew it was a home run.
What is one thing not many know about Early Bird Tacos?
We’re proud to be a family-owned and operated business and we took the risk to ditch our corporate gigs and chase this dream at the same exact time we welcomed our first daughter into the world. We still disagree whether it’s been the best or worst timing possible, but it’s certainly made for an unforgettable adventure.
What’s your favorite thing about feeding companies?
We love serving big groups – it’s the perfect opportunity for people to share a fun and memorable connection over food as they kick off the day. There is some widely celebrated breakfast taco magic in Austin and we aim to create a bit of that same experience each time we make a delivery. We’re extremely proud that so many of the incredible companies across the Bay Area regularly choose to fuel their teams with Early Bird.
What do you like most about partnering with Zerocater?
We love working with Zerocater! They’ve assembled an experienced team who can equally appreciate the unique needs of each catering customer, as well as the level of commitment from their vendors to consistently create and deliver exceptional meals.
Tell us about a time where Early Bird Tacos brought people together or helped to foster community.
We believe Early Bird is positioned to step up beyond serving breakfast tacos, and become stronger members of the community while creating fun, meaningful and healthy relationships across the Bay Area. Since we launched the concept two years ago we’ve been fortunate to make a positive contribution to various charities, schools, and local events. One of our proudest moments as new business owners came when the Marin Fire District called in need of breakfast for 300+ first responders to the recent NorCal fires. Within a 24-hour period, we successfully rounded up 10+ volunteers to stay up through the night making breakfast tacos for those heroes.
What is your biggest challenge as a restaurateur or chef?
Running out of coffee when we kick off at 3 am is very, very unacceptable.
What piece of advice would you offer to someone starting out in the food industry?
The food industry is chock full of incredible people and inspirational stories which can make it an attractive one to join. The reality is the industry carries substantial risk and a low success rate for new concepts – so do your homework, design a game plan you love, and take a big head first dive into the madness.
Where do you see Early Bird Tacos in the future?
We’re working to build a non-traditional concept which delivers a very convenient experience for our customers and helps us mitigate San Francisco’s challenging operating environment for restaurants. Corporate catering, on-demand deliveries, breakfast taco trucks, and carts, we plan to do it all.
What’s your favorite piece of feedback you’ve received from a customer?
“It’s amazing what a little breakfast taco can do for the soul!”
Order from Early Bird Tacos for your office!
