- Jeffrey Lamont Brown
- Feb 28, 2023
These beautifully rolled croissants were handcrafted by our amazing Dojo team - croissant lead Lea, and Lidia, Mark, Alejandra, Joshua and Ryan.
The team begins the lamination process with a single kilo block of Beurre D'Isigny - butter from a small region in Normandy, France made from winter milk. Why winter milk you might ask? We had the same question too!!
Turns out that what the cows are eating in the winter provides different milk from the spring, and the winter milk creates a more pliable butter. A more pliable butter allows the Dojo team to take a 25mm thick block of butter down to less than 0.2 mm in thickness. Over the course of three separate cycles on the dough sheeter, our single kilo of butter is stretched, folded and rolled to create 96 distinct layers in an IZOLA Traditional Croissant. Amazing.
We use only the best-tasting ingredients in our croissants - the beautiful Beurre D'Isigny, organic free-range eggs, organic milk, flour milled in Utah, and Valrhona dark chocolate for our chocolate croissants....We tested 17 different kinds of butter before landing on Beurre D'Isigny and multiple flours (both organic and not). We ran blind taste tests, where the only difference was either a different butter or flour to ensure we were creating the best flavor.
In whatever we do here at IZOLA, we will never sacrifice on our quality. Whether it's in our pursuit to mechanize some of our production or in trying to keep prices down. Today, I want to talk with you about our prices.
We aren't the cheapest croissant in town (by a mile), we know that. As a justice-driven company, we fight for gender justice, environmental justice, sexual orientation justice, racial justice, and economic justice. And so why aren't our prices lower?
In 2022 we lost 40¢ on every croissant we sold.
And that gap is only widening in today's economic environment.
Our cost for organic milk is up 12.5% just from the start of this year.
Our cost for organic free-range eggs is up 23.6% since December.
We are proud to use the best-tasting ingredients. And we are proud to be a Living Wage Certified company. We will never sacrifice our integrity or the IZOLA experience, so we must increase our prices.
Beginning today, we have taken our prices up on our Traditional Croissant, our Chocolate Croissant and our Everything Croissant by 10%. Our prices for our 6 packs have not changed, so they are now at a slight discount to the per unit cost. For now, we have held the prices on all of our remaining menu items.
I hope that you will continue to appreciate and enjoy the handcrafted croissants and sourdough the IZOLA team prepares each week - they are crafted with care and lots of love.
PRE-ORDERS ARE OPEN
Pre-orders are open for the week, including for Chocolate Almond Croissant. Each almond croissant gets a healthy dose of brandy syrup before we fill it end to end with our house made frangipane cream. Our frangipane cream is made from California almonds, toasted and ground in house, organic free range eggs, organic milk and organic sugar.
Have a pre-order? Can't find a parking spot? No problem. Double park downstairs and call us at (619) 289-8358, we'll run your order down to you. We call it IZOLA DRIVE-BY.
IZOLA MUSIC SATURDAY
Every Saturday IZOLA hosts live music - come see how diverse and talented our San Diego community is! Our lineup for this Saturday is coming together - to find out who's coming by to play, follow us on Instagram where we publish the performance schedule every Friday night to our stories!
- Jeffrey Lamont Brown
- Feb 21, 2023
WHICH IS THE IZOLA CROISSANT?
Jenny and I are flying high! We just returned from an epic discovery trip to the Netherlands where we worked all week with the expert team at Rademaker, a leader in food production equipment. Thank you Arjen, Herman, Franz, Bert and the whole Rademaker Team. We were there to explore whether their equipment could possibly produce croissants and sourdough that are the same (and better) quality than our current handmade methods.
While I wish we had smell-o-vision (and taste-o-vision!), a picture will have to suffice for now. Which of the above do you think is the authentic IZOLA croissant vs. the croissants made on Rademaker's line?
Drumroll please....
ALL of them were produced on the line!
We're super stoked by these initial results. Though we and the Rademaker team still have a lot to nuance before we'll know if this is the best fit for IZOLA, and there are a couple of other manufacturers in the same space that we're also exploring.
If we're able to bring in a food production line, it really opens up quite a few avenues for us:
NO MORE SELLING OUT!
We'll be able to increase our production to a whole other sphere - meaning no more selling out, making it easier to just pop by whenever you want for a croissant or some sourdough.
LOWER PRICES AND HIGHER WAGES
Our team will be able to work much more productively which will allow us to hopefully lower prices and increase wages in the long term. We're already a Living Wage Certified company, but it's not enough, especially here in San Diego.
IZOLA IN YOUR JAMMIES
We'll be able to accelerate our growth into IZOLA Bake at Home - imagine croissants shipped directly to your home for you to enjoy hot-from-the-oven croissants in your jammies! Or pick up a Wild Sourdough during your weekly grocery store run that you can just pop in your home oven.
This all becomes possible with a production line.
But, this equipment doesn't come cheap, in fact it costs more than the land we bought for IZOLA Main and that is why we will continue with our equity raise, which will be re-opening soon! Join Jenny and me this Saturday from 3-4:30p PST where we'll meet you online and share with you what our equity raise is all about, progress on IZOLA Main, Croissant Automation and answer any questions you might have.
Register below, or sign up to get added to our Investor Interest list to be the first to hear when we re-open our equity raise.
Amsterdam Fun
Jenny and I took a day off to bike around Amsterdam, thrift shop and eat, eat, eat. We love the Netherlands, great design, cool people, amazing technology and in the little town of Woerden, great food. A shout out to Jeff and the entire IZOLA Team for crushing it while we were gone.
PRE-ORDERS ARE OPEN
Pre-orders are open for the week, including for our Tahitian Vanilla Knot. Made from croissant dough infused with Tahitian Vanilla Beans, then enrobed in a Tahitian vanilla-scented glaze, our Tahitian Vanilla Knots are a IZOLA favorite.
Have a pre-order? Can't find a parking spot? No problem. Double park downstairs and call us at (619) 289-8358, we'll run your order down to you. We call it IZOLA DRIVE-BY.
IZOLA MUSIC SATURDAY
Every Saturday IZOLA hosts live music - come see how diverse and talented our San Diego community is! Here are just a few of the performers who will be by...
IAN MCNAIR
Sat 8-9a
From classical piano and choir roots, to more recently playing folk covers at local venues and in the San Diego open mic circuit, Ian is now working on releasing his own music and collaborating with local artists on original work. His music is influenced by soulful 70s ballads, his past relationships, self-help books, and the color orange.
MALACHI MCNEILL
Sat 9-10a
Malachi McNeill is a singer/songwriter originally from New York City. Owning all of the lyrical responsibilities, his music and arrangements are collaborated on by a variety of musicians from different parts of the country. His debut album “Going, Going,” is available on all streaming platforms.
MIRO IMANI
Sat 10-11a
Miro Imani is a guitarist, singer songwriter, and producer local to San Diego, who just likes to perform and connect with people.
MYSTIQUE
Sat 11a-12p
Mystique, who also goes by Rebeca, is a lover of eclectic genres with her musical background ranging from ecstatic dance to melodic techno. She plays high vibrational beats that tease the soul to awaken. Join us as Mystique mixes up a cozy, dreamy downtempo set with some organic house, electronica and funky tunes.
- Jeffrey Lamont Brown
- Feb 13, 2023
IZOLA
HEART
IZOLA was birthed during a sad and lonely time at the beginning of the COVID pandemic in March 2020. Jenny and I were traveling in Europe when the borders started closing and stay-at-home orders began coming through. We came home to a very different San Diego.
With my photography business on pause, I decided I wanted to start that bakery that had always lingered in my mind. It would be a fun way to pass the time over the next few months, but I was most excited about the opportunity to reconnect with our East Village community at a time when we were all sequestered at home.
So in June 2020, we lowered our first croissants out our 3rd story window to waiting customers down below - taking the 6 foot recommendation to the max!
To connect with our community at a time when we could no longer be with one another face to face brought us so much joy. The compassion and heart that we saw in people every day, that is what kept us going and still does to this day.
Heart. It is all around us if we just keep our eyes open to it. Each of these photos were taken by team members over the past few months and I love that they see it every day too.
PRE-ORDERS ARE OPEN
Pre-orders are now open for the week, including for our Blackberry Chocolate Croissant. Our house made blackberry compote sits at the center of each croissant, along with a single bar of Valrhona dark chocolate. Each croissant is topped with a sugar glaze for a sweet and crisp finish. Yum!
Have a pre-order? Can't find a parking spot? No problem. Double park downstairs and call us at (619) 289-8358, we'll run your order down to you. We call it IZOLA DRIVE-BY.
IZOLA MUSIC SATURDAY
Every Saturday IZOLA hosts live music - come see how diverse and talented our San Diego community is! Here are just a few of the performers who will be by...
KAHLIL NASH
Sat 8-9a
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.
MADDIE DENISON
Sat 9-10a
STATE PARK
Sat 10-11a
We’re State Park, a music duo from San Diego, California made up of sisters Fatima and Leila. As a two person band, we write, record, and produce everything ourselves in our home studio. Influences include Beach House, Grizzly Bear, Fleet Foxes, and Tegan and Sara.
KAMILA P.
Sat 11a-1p
Come by and welcome Kamila P. for their IZOLA debut!