Sophie Salinger started baking custom cakes for clients in The Woodlands at 15. Five years later, she's running her own restaurant concept at Auburn University.
Salinger, a student in Auburn's Horst Schulze School of Hospitality Management, leads Bird and Batter, a chicken-and-waffles operation inside The Incubator at HeyDay Market, a multi-concept food hall open to the public in Auburn, Alabama. She developed the concept from scratch, handling menu development, food safety and day-to-day operations, according to her professional profile.
She was 15 when she founded The Baking Sophie, a custom cake business serving her community in The Woodlands and the greater Houston area.
The path from neighborhood baker to restaurant operator ran through two well-known Woodlands venues. Salinger interned at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel & Convention Center and at Carlton Woods Country Club, gaining kitchen and hospitality experience before heading to college.
Her original business, The Baking Sophie (@thebakingsophie on Instagram), still takes orders for wedding and custom cakes in the Houston and Auburn areas. The account has nearly 1,500 followers.
The Incubator opened Aug. 18, 2025, as a 180-square-foot rotating space where hospitality students run real businesses serving paying customers. Auburn University reported in January 2026 that Salinger's chicken-and-waffles concept was among the student ventures featured that semester.
On her LinkedIn profile, Salinger describes Bird and Batter as a chicken-and-waffles concept serving the greater Auburn area out of HeyDay Market, with multiple variations on the menu.
The Baking Sophie still lists Houston and Auburn as its service areas, suggesting Salinger continues filling cake orders for Woodlands-area clients while managing the restaurant at school.
