JUST.....CAN'T.....WAIT.....
I've been itching to announce our newest croissant drop. Jenny wants me to stay mum since we're not quite done with testing, but we are getting oh.....so......close......and I just can't help myself! So here's an ultra close shot of what we're working on. What do you think it is??
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We started this project on February 4, 2024 (!) and worked on it for almost 4 months until May 24, 2024 when it finally passed initial testing. We started production testing on January 5, 2025 and we're about 10 tests in, with the 11th (and hopefully final) test happening later this week.
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What could we be possibly testing that it would take us this long?! Everything from temperature, to adjusting for the famous salt, fat, acid, heat balance espoused by my chef crush Samin Nosrat, to crunch levels, to how it's served and eaten. And because we are baking everything hot from the oven, we're working through the logistics of how this impacts our overall baking flow.
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So keep your eyes peeled on your inbox - I'm hoping the next email you get from me we'll be announcing our newest drop....
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In the meantime, we have launched mimosas at IZOLA! Fresh squeezed orange juice and bubbly, topped with colorful microflowers because we could all use a little extra beauty in our day.
We are open and baking hot from the oven every Tue - Sun, from 7a-2p.Â
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In a rush and have a pre-order? Just call us at the bakery when you arrive and we'll bring your order out to you! We call it IZOLA Drive By.
HOST YOUR EVENT AT IZOLA
Planning a wedding, cocktail party, networking event or corporate offsite? IZOLA ISLAND is an amazing architectural space, and we want to share it with you!
FINDING HOUSING AFTER INCARCERATION
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At IZOLA, we filter our business decisions through the lens of our five justice-based pillars, paired with guest experience.
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Economic Justice. Environmental Justice. Gender Justice. LGBTQIA+ Justice. Racial Justice.
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As part of our mission, we firmly believe in hiring a diverse team from a variety of backgrounds, one that reflects the community in which we live in. We're proud of the team here at IZOLA, because it is through our diversity that we've been able to build great things - from what we think is the kindest, most compassionate customer service in town, to the ability to serve over 1000 croissants and sourdough loaves a day hot-from-the-oven.
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63% of our current leadership team are women. 38% BIPOC. 25% LGBTQIA+. 13% Restorative Justice.
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Many of our top performing team members have been formerly incarcerated. And as we've learned more about their post-incarceration journeys, we've also gained a deeper understanding of the serious obstacles they face while working hard to rebuild their lives. And one of those key challenges is housing instability.
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Today I turn to you, IZOLA family, to help us break down some of these barriers that one of our team members is facing.
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This team member pours his heart and soul into IZOLA, each and every moment of every day. He quickly became someone that we rely on, and he's the first to jump in and help. We admire his focus, determination and spirit.
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But he's facing tremendous difficulty finding housing. As a condition of his probation, his residence can be searched at any time. He's been in the market to rent a room, but is turned down when the possibility of a search is mentioned. The search would only occur on his room and not to the remainder of the house he is living in.
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If you have been wanting to rent out a room to a kind, respectful tenant, please reach out to Jenny at jenny@izolabakery.com. We'd love to link you up with our team member, and we'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.
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Thanks for helping strengthen our community one person at a time.
BREAKFAST IN BEDÂ
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Don't forget Valentine's Day is this Friday! I wanna make it super easy for you, so you can spend your time where it matters most - with your loved one...so, for this week only we are offering our Breakfast in Bed Kit.
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Our Breakfast in Bed Kit has something sweet, something wild, and something classic to celebrate all the sides of your love - their sweet side, their wild side, and their classic side. All wrapped up in an IZOLA limited edition box.
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First up - the something sweet, our Tahitian Vanilla Knot. We steep whole Tahitian vanilla beans in milk for over a day so that the milk fully takes on the uniquely sweet flavor and slightly floral scent of the Tahitian vanilla bean. We use this vanilla-scented milk as a base for the dough. When the Tahitian Vanilla Knot comes out of the oven we enrobe it in a Tahitian vanilla icing. I just love when I get hit by the scent of that vanilla caviar that's speckles the icing as I bring it up to my mouth for a bite.
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Then we have the something wild, which is our Moroccan Olive Chocolate Croissant, what I like to call our Wild Child of Croissants. It's made with sourdough starter and buckwheat, with chopped Beldi olives throughout and two surprise bars of chocolate in the center. It's nutty, it's just slightly sweet, and a little salty from the briney olives.
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And we have to include our classic Chocolate Croissant - four bars of Valrhona dark chocolate, 96 layers of Normandy butter...need I say more?
Your Breakfast in Bed Kit comes in a hand stamped gable box.
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OPEN AND BAKING HOT FROM THE OVEN
Tuesday-Sunday
7a-2p
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In a rush and have a pre-order? Just call us at the bakery when you arrive and we'll bring your order out to you! We call it IZOLA Drive By.
PS. Happy Valentine's Day to my sweet, wild and classic Jenny!
IT'S SLAMMY TIME!
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Oh my gosh, do we have the most fun cocktail to introduce you to - launching this Friday, Valentine's Day is Slammy Juice!
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April Fool's is still over a month away, so no, I'm not kidding you. We were hard at work today, having a wine tasting with one of our favorite people, Tammy from Breakthru Beverage, and experimenting with some wine cocktails. And Slammy Juice was born!
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Slammy Juice is Tammy's name for wine mixed with a bubbly drink like ginger ale. In this case, we're pairing IZOLA's Campuget Grenache with our organic coconut craft soda. It's refreshing, bubbly, and fun.
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Launching on Friday, Valentine's Day. Just ask the front counter for a glass of Slammy Juice!
LAST EARLY BIRD PERK ENDS SATURDAY
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And just one quarter after opening IZOLA Island...we have a Net Operating Profit! Congratulations IZOLA Team. We will announce a shareholder call soon via email.
If you have considered investing in IZOLA, our current per-unit offering ends in just days, at midnight this Saturday, February 15th.
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We are on a mission to change the way Americans experience sourdough and croissants.
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Join Jenny and me this Thursday at 4:30p on Google Meet for a live conversation about IZOLA Future and our capital campaign.
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We'll share with you why we're raising capital to expand IZOLA's production capabilities, improve our IT, and expand our impact. Our factory project in City Heights is well underway. This project will provide up to a 20x increase in our production capacity AND improve our quality. Additionally, we're expanding our IT capabilities to serve our customers better. And we're taking action on our 5 areas of social justice, including economic, LGBTQIA+, environmental, gender, and racial justice. It's a swing for the fences...and we need a big dose of capital to make it a reality.
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The conversation will be super informal - come with questions, come in your jammies, call in while you're making dinner, anything goes! We look forward to chatting with you!
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Please remember that investing is risky...most small businesses fail, so please don't invest more than you can afford to lose.
RENT THE FUTURE IZOLA MAIN!
As we finalize the plans and permits and raise capital for our new zero-emission Dough Innovation center in City Heights, we are offering the existing 5000-square-foot warehouse and office space for lease. Learn more at the link below!
SATURDAY LIVE MUSIC
Every Saturday between 8a-1p, we host local musicians at IZOLA. Come on by and enjoy the abundance of talent that we have here in our community! Here's a little sampling of who will be by this Saturday:
JOHN AND EILEEN SCHNARR
8-9a
Eileen and John have been married for 52 years and counting. They've raised five children, who have grown into unique, successful and wonderful human beings. Since 1981 John has written over 200 songs, which they have sung together. Eileen and John survived life threatening illnesses just months apart (December 2021 - July 2022). Coming out from under that experience, they joyfully embrace their current season for singing, which came with a soaring duet of Yes!
XAVY
9-10a
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Xavy is a San Diego native saxophonist with a wide range of musical interests. He is also a member of the Funk/R&B band Heaping Teaspoon.
LEATEA
11a-12p
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Leatea (San Diego native Dylann Jelden) has been a musician all her life, beginning with classical violin at age 4. She began writing songs and incorporating guitar in high school. She performs regularly in San Diego.
SOME CALL ME CRAZY...Â
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I have been told once or twice in my life that I'm a little loco...and this week, we launch something that might add a little more fuel to that fire - our new Pei Pa Kao Latte.
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What in the world is Pei Pa Kao, you ask??? It's a honey loquat herbal tonic that Jenny grew up with - rich, herbal, and sweet. We've paired it with our single-origin espresso from Brazil and grass-fed milk to create a surprisingly curious (and slightly addictive) Pei Pa Kao Latte. There is something incredibly soothing, medicinal, and refreshing about our Pai Pa Kao Latte.
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Launches this Wednesday, February 5th!
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And our Vanilla Latte, which launched last week, has quickly skyrocketed to become our most popular drink at that the bakeshop. Made with our own house-made vanilla syrup.
While I'm opening up about my crazy side, another project I've just been tickled pink over has been my personal quest to craft the most thirst quenching filtered water. I have been wanting to recreate the same experience I had growing up on my family's farm 9 miles southwest of Dodge City, Kansas.
We had an irrigation well that ran all summer, pulling pristine water from the legendary Ogalalla Aquifer. I would fill my water jug, just moments after the perfectly balanced 50 degree water flowed up out of the ground. The taste of that water is still etched in my mind.
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Now I've brought Western Kansas Well Water here to San Diego...We're taking San Diego water, filtering it through a reverse osmosis system, and adding minerals back in to reproduce the same flavor I remember from my childhood.
You can find JB's Western Kansas Well Water free flowing on tap here at IZOLA (sparkling available too!). I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. No pre-order necessary, hehe 😉.
We're loving the response to our new Fig & Fennel Sourdough drop! For folks who tried to get a loaf last week and we were sold out, we are so sorry....More this week! Loaded with dried Smyrna figs and toasted fennel, the sourdough pairs so well with a little drizzle of honey.
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Pre-order now, or pop on by. For IZOLA Drive-By, just call us at 619-289-8358 when you're outside, and we'll deliver your order out to your car!
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We're baking hot from the oven every Tuesday - Sunday from 7a-2p.
COFFEE CART FOR SALE
We are selling our beloved coffee cart! This is what we launched our coffee program with over at our original location on 13th Street. We're meticulous about everything that we do, and that includes maintaining our equipment and tools, so you can bet that this is ready to go for ya.
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Click below for more details!
PRICE GOES UP IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!
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If you have considered investing in IZOLA, our current per unit offering ends at midnight on February 15th.
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We are on a mission to change the way Americans experience sourdough and croissants. Some have wondered why we want to scale beyond our single location, and the simple reason is that with scale, we can scale our impact.
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We want to provide a healthy return for those who have invested in IZOLA. Scale creates more growth opportunities for our team while creating more living-wage+ jobs for our community, too (50 are planned for IZOLA Main in City Heights). Scale allows us to share IZOLA with the greater Southern California community and offer great-tasting food with exceptional hospitality, served hot from the oven.
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Each investment in IZOLA helps us achieve our goals of building our new production facility in City Heights, expanding IZOLA's sales, providing job training, opening new bread cafes, and improving our technology. Watch our short webinar or visit our Microventures portal to learn how this redevelopment will improve profit margins while creating jobs in a zero-emission dough factory.
If you're ready to invest, just click the "INVEST" button on the top right hand side of the page. You can invest as little as $1000.
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Please remember that investing is risky...most small businesses fail, so please don't invest more than you can afford to lose.
SATURDAY LIVE MUSIC
Every Saturday between 8a-1p, we host local musicians at IZOLA. Come on by and enjoy the abundance of talent that we have here in our community! Here's a little sampling of who will be by this Saturday:
KAHLIL NASH
9-10a
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Last time Kahlil performed at the bakery, a guest shared with us she was brought to tears by his performance...
Emerging from the elite San Diego music scene in California, San Diego Music Award winner Kahlil Nash is a Funk/Rock and R&B recording artist/producer who is a multi-instrumentalist. Influenced by artists Michael Jackson, Jimi Hendrix, and Prince, Kahlil Nash thrives to entertain his audience.
PAIGE KOEHLER
10-11a
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Paige Koehler, a solo indie pop act sure to get you and your mom dancing (while eating croissants, in this case). If you think you’d fit in at a backyard show where Amy Winehouse and Vampire Weekend traded sweet, lustful serenades while playfully roasting each other in between songs, you’ll likely fit in at a Paige Koehler show. Bring your mom and a positive attitude. See you Saturday.
KAYLEE DAUGHERTY
11a-12p
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Kaylee Daugherty is an up-and-coming singer in the San Diego jazz scene. With roots in gospel and R&B, her musical interpretations come with soul and passion.