Everyone is welcome at Mama Bird Bakery in Plainfield

Jessica Klatte turned a light bulb moment into a business plan and is bringing her friends along for the ride.

The mother of five with one in the oven opened their doors at Mama Bird Bakery on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, where she and co-owner Katie Jacoboski, a mother of four, are offering up more than just sweet treats and coffees.

Inside the boutique bakery with calming green earth-toned walls, love and opportunity are as abundant as sugar and spice. It even says on the wall in big black letters, "Everyone is welcome at our table."

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In a world that can often seem unfair, Mama Bird Bakery is leading by example and offering hope for families with individuals with disabilities.

Surrendering less, enjoying more

Owen Carr has the typical ravenous appetite of any 17-year-old boy. His parents, Kevin and Kelly, call him a foodie. He agrees, yet he's only been digesting food through his mouth for five years.

At an early age, the family didn't know what to expect for Owen, who is autistic. At birth he was medically fragile, meaning he needed 24-hour supervision from a skilled nurse, and nearly died three times.

"From the moment you get a diagnosis you start a process of giving up lots of different things," Kevin said. "That can be a really long process with a lot of surrenders along the way."

By age 4, Owen became verbal. Each day he'd ask his mom what was for dinner though he ate from a gastronomy tube, commonly known as a G-tube.

"I would say spaghetti and meatballs," Kelly said. "I mean, Kevin and I would have the spaghetti and meatballs, but Owen would be fed through his G-tube. I would still put out food for him to touch and to smell and to lick."

By kindergarten, Kelly says Owen knew he wanted to be a baker. She believes those positive family dinners showed him that food was something that brought people together, and he wanted to be a part of that experience for others.

Slowly over time, she says Owen's touching, smelling, and licking turned into crunching and by age 12, he was eating by mouth on his own.

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Klatte, a former Medicaid waiver case manager for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, worked with the Carr family. She witnessed many of Owen's accomplishments. She also saw the hardships.

For the Carr family, Klatte's presence was comforting and her field knowledge was priceless. She ensured they had all the information and tools needed to best utilize their waiver services for Owen. That made the news in June 2022, that Klatte was stepping down after 8 years as Owen's case manager to start a bakery, hard to swallow.

But the sadness was short-lived. Klatte and Jacoboski soon requested Owen's resume and scheduled a sit-down interview.

"I was so pumped because I love baking," Owen said. "Then I got a call that I'm hired and it's just the best thing that people with disabilities can work."

Flipping the switch

That lightbulb moment for Klatte came after the words of a coffee shop manager cut her to her core.

The manager hinted that another of Klatte's former clients would never be quick enough to work inside their fast-paced coffee shop environment.

To Klatte, the perceptions her clients continually faced of work-related limitations were unfair at the least. She thought to herself, "I can't fix the whole world, but why can't I fix this for my community?"

Turns out the recipe for change had written itself inside Klatte's home kitchen. She unknowingly joked about it with her daughter, Raven, as they bonded over baking and decorating sugar cookies. Cookies that her friend, Jacoboski, urged her to sell.

"One day we were like, 'What would our name be if we had our own company?'" Klatte said, of a conversation with her daughter. "I'm Mama at home and her nickname is Bird. And so that's how the name was started."

They had the name and a product but saying goodbye to the families she served would be harder than imagined.

"It was like, I know I'm doing the right thing," Klate said. "However, I'm going to miss all of these people. I hope this is an avenue where I still get to see them."

Moms, friends, partners

Mama Bird Bakery co-owner, Katie Jacoboski, first met Klatte at church. The two quickly became friends.

Four years ago, Jacoboski urged Klatte to sell her sugar cookies to the public. And she did. Two years after, Jacobaski joined her in her venture.

For Jacoboski, this is her first out-of-the-home job in 15 years. She did spend two years right out of college as a mental health case manager. She says she's nervous yet excited.

"Our homes are very full and rely a lot on mom," Jacoboski said. "It's going to be a big adjustment."

The day before opening, Klatte and Jacoboski stood together inside their empty bakery and wondered if anyone would show up, but when their doors opened Tuesday, dozens of people, from community and family members to Klatte's former clients, packed the bakery. By 10:30 a.m., the store was completely sold out of everything but its Tinker Street coffee beans. On days the shop doesn't sell out they'll donate their leftover goods, rotating between local organizations.

The bakery team consists of three full-time employees and five part-time employees, three of which are young adults with disabilities.

"We are still figuring out who's going to really enjoy the baking part and what those roles look like," Jacoboski said. "It's all just figuring out how best to make everyone successful."

"If an employee wants to be hands-on in the kitchen, then let's get you in the kitchen, get you an apron and start baking," Klatte added. "And if you want to learn how to make coffee, me too, let's learn how to do this together."

That outlook and the bakery's motto, 'Everyone is welcome at our table,' is comforting to parents who only want their children with disabilities to feel the same value and have the same opportunities as the next employee.

"Owen wants to bake and he's great with other people," Kevin said. "So those are the opportunities he's going to get. It's really cool that they see him for who he is and will take the time to help him develop even greater skills."

Klatte and Jacoboski stood together in their shop the afternoon of their grand opening after the rush faded.

"I haven't even begun to process this morning," Klatt said. "Every time I do I start to cry."

Wearing his company shirt, Jared Baker, a new employee who has Down syndrome, makes his way into the bakery for his shift. His cell phone alarm ringing.

Quickly he pulls his phone from his pocket to silence the alarm.

"That's me," he says, with a smile. "It's time to clock in."

Mama Bird Bakery is located at 234 E Main Street in Plainfield. They're open Tuesday-Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Contact IndyStar photojournalist Mykal McEldowney at 317-790-6991 or mykal.mceldowney@indystar.com. Follow him on Instagram or Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Mama Bird Bakery opens in Plainfield, welcomes everyone