THE BEST MAC ‘N’ CHEESE IN EVERY STATE
California: Homeroom, Oakland
For insanely good mac ‘n’ cheese in California, head to Homeroom in Oakland. The Buffalo Chicken (grilled chicken with sharp Cheddar, Jack cheese, buffalo sauce, and topped with crispy breadcrumbs and homemade ranch) is consistently raved about by customers. You can also customise dishes – get it topped with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos for extra fire and crunch.
Our Story
A labor of love.
Before she was the founder of Homeroom, Erin Wade got a sudden craving for mac and cheese one rainy night. She had a long day at work as an attorney and wanted some comfort food, but there were no local restaurants with mac and cheese as delicious as the one she grew up eating. So she pulled out her dad’s family recipe and started cooking.
That homemade mac and cheese would change the course of her life—and others’. Erin set out to open the kind of restaurant she wished she could’ve gone to that night: a friendly, familiar place serving up the world’s best mac and cheese. Within a month, she boxed up her law degree and committed to chasing this crazy, delicious dream.
Erin and a small team of family and friends spent a year building a restaurant as special as the food it would serve. They named the restaurant Homeroom, a nod to the class in school that served no purpose other than connecting with friends and classmates.
It was truly a labor of love—Homeroom opened its doors on Valentine’s Day 2011 in the Temescal District of Oakland. Since then, it’s become a favorite Bay Area restaurant among locals and visitors alike. Homeroom is committed to a different way of doing business, employing a kick-ass, diverse team and preparing each and every mac and cheese to order using Erin’s family recipe.
Our Values
A new way of doing business.
Two-Way Transparency
Teamwork makes the dream work! We practice open book finance and request weekly feedback from every team member.
Revolutionize Business
We know, this is a big one. 95% of our leadership team are women, LGBTQ folks, or people of color.
Inclusive
Our company reflects the diversity of Oakland, one of the most diverse in the U.S. We partner with organizations to recruit staff from different backgrounds, including refugees and formerly incarcerated folks.
Best in Class
We serve the best damn mac and cheese in the world with warm hospitality.
Collective Success
We filter our decisions by what is best for the collective of the individual, team, customer and community. The result? Inventive ideas like our harassment prevention system, adopted by restaurants on a national scale.
Chef. Author. Entrepreneur. Feminist.
ABOUT
Erin Wade is a chef, author, and entrepreneur, known for her work promoting feminist business practices.
Erin is the Founder and CEO of Homeroom, a restaurant in Oakland, California known in equal parts for its unique workplace culture and incredible macaroni and cheese. Erin’s testimony before the EEOC led to the adoption of Homeroom’s harassment prevention system as a national best practice by the agency. Erin was named one of America’s “World Changing Women” by Conscious Company Magazine for her groundbreaking work in the restaurant industry.
She has a degree in public policy from Princeton University and a law degree from UC Berkeley, and is the proud mom of one company and two small children.
GET TO KNOW ERIN
Erin’s work reaches across industries and approaches. Here are a few curated pieces of her work that should give you a sense of what she’s been up to and what might come next.
“We learn to deny our longings and our skills, and to do work that occupies our hours without inspiring our greatness.”
ADRIENNE MAREE BROWN | EMERGENT STRATEGY
MEDIA MENTIONS
Erin’s work has appeared in a number of publications and outlets.
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