By Contributor Gary Stern
Cat Cox, winner of the 2025 James Beard Pastry Award, in front of Country Bird Caf茅 in Tulsa, which … More specializes in sourdough.
Molly Thrasher
Cat Cox describes Country Bird Bakery, which she opened in 2022 in her hometown of Tulsa, Ok., as an 鈥渁rtisanal sourdough bakery.鈥 Cox earned the 2025 James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker, which one might expect a baker from New York City or San Francisco to win. But Cox is a gifted baker and a woman on a mission.
Cox, who is 42-years-old, defines that mission as 鈥淪upport local farmers. Connect community. Create a space that I want to work in and where my employees are happy. And provide delicious baked goods that utilize whole grains.鈥
She explains that sourdough involves a 3-day fermentation process that makes bread more nutritious and more easily digestible. Ironically, she aimed to create a bakery that could thrive in San Francisco or N.Y.C.
Bootstrapping the Bakery
When she opened Country Bird Bakery three years ago, she did so on a shoestring budget. She tapped some savings she received from selling her house during Covid, helping her buy a deck oven. Then she raised some funds from family and friends that helped acquire the convection oven and spiral mixer, and bought used kitchen equipment via Facebook. But Cox owns it all now.
Cox says Country Bird Bakery uses 鈥渓ocal and regional, stone-milled flour as well as local produce, dairy and eggs.鈥 Some of its specialty items include its pecan, twice-baked croissant, which is like an almond croissant but uses local pecans from Knight Pecan Farm, and its country loaf, which consists of 100% local stone-milled sourdough. Its drip coffee stems from Coracle Coffee, a local Tulsa roaster.
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It also offers an array of sandwiches including focaccia including vegetarian frittata, ham 鈥榥 jams, and Camembert baguettes.
Dedicated to furthering the art of baking, she teaches sourdough workshops to the public, which can accommodate up to 15 students at once.
But Country Bird Bakery is very down-home and casual. Indeed, Cox says it really doesn鈥檛 have any seating, other than a bar at the window with 4 stools. It鈥檚 located between two Tulsa areas, the Pearl district and the Kendal Whittier district.
Very Limited Hours
Moreover, it鈥檚 open extremely limited hours. It鈥檚 open every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and also a couple of Thursday鈥檚 a month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It also sells wholesale breads to several local restaurants such as Farm Bar, Cow and Cabbage and Malfi and Coffee @ Heirloom, and desserts to Tina鈥檚, a local bar.
But the retail shop generates 90% of revenue with 5% each for wholesale and the baking workshops.
Why open for so few hours a week? Cox replies that it鈥檚 limited by its cramped 1,000 square foot space that has no walk-in refrigerators. Nonetheless, it鈥檚 profitable and reinvests its profits back into the business and buying new equipment.
She acknowledges that unlike most entrepreneurs, money isn鈥檛 her driving force. 鈥淥wning a bakery is a service to community, and it鈥檚 hard work because baking usually starts at 3 a.m.,鈥 she explains.
Cox is so understated in marketing that she says she 鈥渉as never spent any money on advertising.鈥 She created a strong reputation as a chef when she cooked at Living Kitchen Farm, Dairy and Farm Bar, and then depended mostly on word of mouth when she debuted her bakery.
It relies on local farms as her main suppliers, which Cox refers to as the bedrock of Oklahoma. If not, we鈥檇 be relying on big corporate farms, that are less responsive to local needs, she suggests.
She named her bakery Country Bird as an homage to her grandmother, who resided in a hamlet in Southwestern Oklahoma. On a visit to another small Ok. town, Cox spied a tattered awning that said Country Bird, which was the perfect name for her bakery.
Cox was raised in Tulsa, but attended art school in Kansas City, became a studio assistant in the Washington, D.C. area, and then moved to NYC to work at a papermaking studio Dieu Donne. Then she settled in Marfa, Tx. when the stock market crashed, and began working in kitchens. She returned to Tulsa 11 years ago.
Asked to describe its target audience, Cox says that it consists of mostly regulars, who are middle-aged folks, young families, and also people in their twenties via TikTok. But with the recent publicity emanating from the James Beard Award, it鈥檚 been attracting more tourists than before.
Country Bird Bakery鈥檚 staff consists of 6 bakers, who are in production, and 3 of them also work up front helping guests when we open, and one serves as part-time dishwasher.
Cox acknowledges that winning the James Beard Best Pastry Chef award is prestigious and is grateful but admits it can be 鈥渋ntimidating.鈥 And it raises customer expectations. Asked how it can be used to generate more revenue, she replies 鈥渢hat remains to be seen.鈥
Opening a second bakery in Tulsa would be tricky because there鈥檚 a small pool of talented pastry chefs to draw from. Asked the keys to the continued success of her bakery, Cox replied, 1) My team, 2) Commitment to sourcing incredible produce from the local farms, 3) Community support.
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