- Jeffrey Lamont Brown
- Sep 2, 2025
SUMMER'S GRAND FINALE
We closed out summer with a milestone — another record month here at IZOLA. It’s a testament not only to the guests who show up week after week, but also to the incredible team who makes it all happen.
Labor Day weekend put that to the test. Just as the bakery filled with guests, our Google system went down right at the peak of Saturday’s traffic.
Because we bake and serve everything hot from the oven, our entire operation depends on an interwoven system that tracks every unit — every croissant, every loaf, every knot — as it comes out of the oven. That system tells us what to bake next, what’s already been sold, and what we have available to sell. (If you missed it, we shared a deep dive into our “just in time” baking system a couple weeks ago — you can read it here.)
When that system went dark, the team had to do the impossible: keep the bakery moving without the web of information that usually ties everything together. And they did. With grit, focus, and a whole lot of teamwork, they pulled it off — keeping the wheels on the bus and the ovens humming.
Now with all systems back online, put us to the test 😉. Pre-order now, or just pop on by. We're open and baking hot-from-the-oven every day from 7a-2p.
NEW SEASON, NEW FLAVORS COMING SOON
Now, as we head into fall, we’re doubling down on what drives us every day: flavor. The team has been gathered around the bake bar, sheet pans lined with different shapes of our newest creation. Each form tells a story — how will it bake, how will it hold, how will it eat? We’re tasting and debating: Will some bites miss the mark? How can we make sure every single bite carries the same joy as the next?
Keep an eye out: Our newest flavor is dropping soon and it will be🔥.....
TEAM SHOUTOUTS!
Hip hip hooray! Please join us in congratulating our newest Front of House Lead, Narra.
In just a few short weeks, Narra has become a shining example of the IZOLA spirit. She’s endlessly curious, always eager to learn, and fully embraces the Kaizen mindset — striving to improve a little every day. She supports her teammates with empathy and never hesitates to jump in when needed (like this very morning, when she came in on her day off to cover a callout!).
We’re beyond thrilled to have Narra step into this leadership role, and can’t wait to see the energy, care, and creativity she’ll bring to the Front of House team.
Congratulations, Narra!
And a huge congratulations (and thank you!) to Krystal, a cornerstone of our Back Office team and the most recent recipient of our Above and Beyond Award.
Since the very beginning of IZOLA Island, Krystal has done it all — from drilling concrete (she’s better at it than me), to negotiating vendor contracts, creating training programs, managing hiring and onboarding, and so much more.
She brings a can-do spirit to every challenge, is the first to cheer the team on, and always offers a kind ear when someone’s having a tough day. Krystal, we’re so grateful for your compassion, your grit, and the fierce energy you bring to IZOLA every single day.
LIVE MUSIC SATURDAYS
Every Saturday, we host live music at the bakeshop from 8a-1p. Come on by to see how talented our local San Diego musicians are! Follow us on Instagram to see the lineup! Here are a couple of the musicians joining us this weekend.
KAHLIL NASH
10-11a
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 strives to entertain his audience.
RANDALL HILD
10-11a
Randall is a talented keyboardist, singer, and songwriter residing in San Diego, CA. He most loves sharing his passion for music and art to the world, and with an eclectic range of influences there is something for everyone in his performances.
JULIE SEELY
11-12p
Julie Seely is a local musician who covers pop, folk, and alternative songs.
- Jeffrey Lamont Brown
- Aug 25, 2025
BEHIND THE SCENES...
Every croissant, every loaf of sourdough, every caramel drizzle has a story. This week, we wanted to share a glimpse of the real work behind the magic.
📸 In this week’s GIF:
Chef Lane carefully crafting the brittle that tops our Browned Butter Caramel Knots.
Dani lining up display items with surgeon-level precision.
Colin hauling a bus tub of heavy cutting boards like it’s nothing.
One of our newest team members, Sen, dusted head-to-toe in flour, learning the art of sourdough.
Our Tahitian vanilla knot dough, cut and waiting to be rolled.
The Dojo team breaking into smiles to celebrate Don’s birthday.
A sweet handwritten note from our Dojo team to our bakers.
The dining room transformed into a sea of suds during deep clean.
What ties all of this together? Care. Dedication. Sweat (sometimes floury sweat). Our team pours so much love into every detail, big and small, so that the IZOLA experience feels effortless.
If you’ve ever felt the joy in your croissant’s first bite, or in the warmth of the welcome when you walk through our door, that’s this team's work shining through.
Thank you Team IZOLA for your relentless focus, your eye for detail, and your passion for creating joy in every bite. You are IZOLA.
Our team is here and baking hot-from-the-oven every day!
7a-2p
OPEN LABOR DAY WEEKEND
Summer isn’t quite over yet — and what better way to close it out than with croissants, sourdough, and time spent with the people you love?
IZOLA will be open all Labor Day weekend including Monday, September 1st — so whether you’re starting the day with something flaky and buttery, picking up bread for a backyard gathering, or sneaking in one last summer adventure downtown, we’ve got you covered.
Come celebrate the season’s end with us. We’ll be here, ovens blazing, ready to make it a holiday weekend to remember.
HOST YOUR NEXT EVENT AT IZOLA
Our dining room doesn’t just shine during the day — it transforms beautifully at night for private dinners, celebrations, and special gatherings.
Recently, The Blank Table brought in chefs Danny and Dante Romero, filling IZOLA with incredible food, conversation, and community. We provided the space, they provided the feast, and together it became a night to remember.
Whether you bring in your own chef, caterer, or just your closest friends, IZOLA is the perfect backdrop to make your event extraordinary.
LIVE MUSIC SATURDAYS
Every Saturday, we host live music at the bakeshop from 8a-1p. Come on by to see how talented our local San Diego musicians are! Follow us on Instagram to see the lineup! Here are a couple of the musicians joining us this weekend.
LEATEA
9-10a
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.
MS. CONNIE MUSIC
10-11a
Ms. Connie blends pop, dance, and world sounds to share stories of love, freedom, and beauty—celebrating life through music and feminine power.
ROBERT CHAN
11-12p
Based in San Diego and inspired by personal life experiences, singer-songwriter Robert Chan writes music that focuses on storytelling. With just three years of experience, he's recently created a new album about a magical love story called "I Promise Cafe."
JULIE SEELY
12-1p
Julie Seely is a local musician who covers pop, folk, and alternative songs.
- Jeffrey Lamont Brown
- Aug 19, 2025
BAKING HOT FROM THE OVEN
When I first launched IZOLA, serving croissants and sourdough hot from the oven was born of necessity - our 30" LG oven only fit 9 croissants and 5 loaves of sourdough per load! But what started as a necessity quickly became a core philosophy: once you’ve had a croissant straight from the oven......life-changing.
As IZOLA grew, we knew we wanted that magic to flourish. Each change we made had to IMPROVE guest experience. From our little home oven to a commercial convection oven, and finally to our fleet of Salva deck and convection ovens, we’ve built a whole web of systems around one goal: providing our guests with the freshest, hottest croissants and sourdough...Delight!
And let me tell you — there’s a reason most bakeries don’t do this. It’s complicated. Below, a visualization of our data flow:
Our croissants take an overnight defrost and four hours to proof; the sourdough an overnight slow ferment and nearly an hour to bake. Multiply that across 100+ trays of pastries and 30 trays of sourdough on a weekend, and you get a sense of the dance. Every tray is labeled, logged, and triple-checked before it ever meets the oven.
On bake day, our bakers follow a master schedule that tracks every tray — down to the minute it enters the oven. They’re on radios with our expeditor, adjusting on the fly: running low on Almond Croissants? We’ll bump them ahead, pausing a batch of traditional croissants to keep the balance. Each tray is time-stamped on an iPad mounted right to our ovens, feeding live data to the front-of-house.
We invite you to join Chef Lane and her team at the IZOLA Bake Bar to watch the action unfold!
At the counter, our system maps all pre-orders and pickup times against what’s baking right now, so the team always knows exactly how many croissants are available in that very moment. It’s like a living, breathing bake schedule — connecting ovens to guests in real time.
It takes every department, every shift, every set of hands working in sync. But that’s how we deliver on the promise: croissants and sourdough straight from our ovens, to your mouth.
We’re here every day, 7a–2p.
Pre-order if you like, or just stop in — the ovens are always baking.
OPERATIONAL & COMMUNITY UPDATES
There's a lot happening in our world right now, and a lot happening in our community of the East Village too. A few things we wanted to update you on:
PRICING
Ongoing ICE raids are leading to instability in produce pricing. While the current administration initially ordered a pause on raids targeting the agricultural industry, that was quickly reversed.
Additionally, tariffs continue to affect our operational strategies. At the start of the year, we invested heavily into key ingredients to quite literally buy some stability for the short term in our cost structure. This came out of our cash reserves, a decision we didn't make lightly. But the risk we took meant we might be able to hold pricing stable for our guests for a longer period of time. But ingredient costs have been and continue to rise. We've been actively testing alternatives and putting other cost savings measures into place to combat the rise in costs due to tariffs.
PACKAGING
You'll soon start to see us use plain kraft gable boxes for our to-go orders. My mistake...When it came time to reorder our custom-printed boxes, I wanted to take the opportunity to update the artwork...and I took too gosh darn long. The new boxes are on their way, but for a few weeks we'll be rocking the simple look.
Don't worry though - every box will have a care card attached with instructions on how to reheat your croissants and sourdough (because they deserve to taste just-baked at home, too). You can also find those instructions anytime on our website here.
THE EAST VILLAGE COMMUNITY
We've been teaming up with local organizations and city partners to make the East Village an even better place to live and to visit. Huge thanks to the San Diego Police Department, Downtown San Diego Partnership, San Diego Parks and Recreation Department, JDS Security Services, and Pinnacle Development for your efforts - and a special shoutout to our Front of House Lead, Adrian, for spearheading these conversations.
This month, we sat down together to brainstorm opportunities and align on key strategies to improve the neighborhood around us. And within days of our meeting, the absolutely amazing Clean & Safe Team had already installed new pilfer-proof trash bins in and around IZOLA. SD Parks and Rec, SDPD, and JDS Security have all increased their presence in Faultline Park, and Pinnacle has repaired damaged infrastructure and begun planning to improve park plantings. Thank you! Thank you!
More initiatives are in the works, and they’ll take persistence, time, and commitment — but we’re excited to keep building a stronger, more welcoming East Village, together.
EAST VILLAGE MIXER
For residents, businesses and community partners in the East Village - join your neighbors at the next East Village Neighborhood Mixer hosted by the East Village Association.
Thursday August 28th
Tavern and Bowl
4:30p - 7:30p
It's an opportunity to connect for casual conversation and the chance to build stronger connections in our East Village Community. This is a great opportunity to meet your neighbors and learn about local initiatives and events.
Please make sure to RSVP!
OUR NEWEST MENU ITEM
Guests have been loving our newest drop, IZOLA Warmed Olives. Like a recent guest who shared:
I absolutely loved my visit to Izola Bakery. The croissant here honestly blew me away, even better than the famous ones by Cedric Grolet in Paris. The space feels warm and inviting, filled with the smell of freshly baked pastries. Their new warmed olives plate, however, was the real surprise – it carried a distinctly European vibe that made me feel like I was sitting at a café abroad. The staff was kind, the coffee paired perfectly, and the whole experience was unforgettable.
Go team go! Join us for a plate of Warmed Olives to pair with a loaf of hot sourdough. It's a blend of Mediterranean flavors with Italian Castelvetrano Olives, Greek Kalamata olives, paired with charred grapes roasted until they become beautifully syrupy and sticky, all bathed in extra virgin olive oil. A hint of earthy fresh thyme and a bright citrusy kiss of orange rind tops it off.