A HOUSE DIVIDED
There is some tension in the Brown-Chen household these days...the cause? Tiny, boney, salty, squishy, squirmy, smelly anchovies. They just don't belong in sourdough.
(record scratch sound effect) Alright, alright - that was Jenny above, doing an unauthorized takeover of the newsletter. Jeffrey here, the more level-headed, rational half of this partnership (😇). What am I excited about these days? Well, LOTS! But especially our newest Anchovy Sourdough, where we have whole anchovies adding a briney depth to our sourdough, paired with roasted heirloom garlic cloves and zesty radish. Chef Lane also made a delish anchovy butter...YUM!
What do you think? Excited about Anchovy Sourdough? Head on over to our Instagram Stories and VOTE in our anchovy poll!
Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid. (Almost Famous, 2000)
REOPENING UPDATES
As many of you know, we're currently closed for kitchen renovations needed for a new health permit. Over the past several months, we've hit many challenges along the way, which is an expected part of renovating a 100-year-old building...and we've worked through them. Until now......During the 2nd review of the 13th St. plans, additional requirements were placed on the renovation, such as the requirement to increase the structural capacity of the dining room up to 2024 standards in order to obtain our kitchen renovation permit..... to 140,000 lbs. Argh....that was a sucker punch. And it's just not economically feasible. With a heavy heart Jenny and I have decided that IZOLA must move. Heartbreaking! We raised our son at 13th St. We started IZOLA at 13th St. And we met all of you at 13th St. So many great memories.
Where will we move you ask? We have an open mind! We are already in discussions regarding three potential new locations. And they have the following characteristics in common:
Valid health permit in place. (any of the 3 work for us)
restaurant kitchen space or:
industrial food manufacturing space or:
space that would hold both our production and bakeshop.
Available now.
Minimum 400a 208/120 3ph power available.
Lease Length: We're flexible!
If you know of an available space that would be a great spot for an IZOLA, we'd love to hear about it. A year of free croissants (52 x 6 packs) if you connect us to our new home.
EQUITY CLOSE
Our equity raise is now closed. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the IZOLA community....just WOW. We can now call over 500 of you owners in IZOLA!
We have raised $1.6M to help propel our mission of
GROWTH.
JOBS.
JUSTICE.
Amazing...and it's not enough. Building IZOLA Main, a zero-emission dough factory and bakeshop in an underinvested, urban San Diego community, is a $7.5 million dollar project.
Why are we doing it? We can't achieve our company vision or justice-based goals by baking the same way it's always been done.
Investing in efficiencies like automation and purpose-built production facilities at IZOLA Main will increase the quality of our croissants and sourdough. We're also improving the guest experience like providing a parking lot to make it easier for you to pop by for a hot-from-the-oven pastry. IZOLA Main will create opportunities in the community with high-quality jobs (training included!) and build a safe community space that improves social health. IZOLA Main will increase the value created per hour worked to pay our team members higher wages and maximize the return of our investors.
Missed our last investment round? Don't worry! We're working on opening a new equity round later this spring. Stay tuned! We'll announce it in our newsletter first!