THIS WEEK'S THEME:
As I gathered my thoughts on our most significant updates from this past week that I wanted to share with everyone, it became clear that this week's theme is community...our team, our friends, and the local community that makes East Village a great neighborhood.
IZOLA TEAM:
The entire IZOLA team is working hard toward two milestones:
1) IZOLA SUNDAYS
We'll soon be exiting our soft launch phase and opening on Sundays. This takes a surprising amount of coordination...
FRONT OF HOUSE team expanded and trained (we have a lot of processes - 168-page FOH training manual 😎), to be able to serve two super busy weekend days in a row, with IZOLA's warm hospitality.
PRODUCTION - We need another 1000 croissants per week to open on Sundays.
IZOLA Dough Production can now operate 24 hours a day — crazy! It's something we've wanted to do for years. Thank you to our inaugural overnight team, Jacob and Manny!
Roll-in coolers/freezers/proofers. Baking is all about managing the temperature for sourdough and croissant journey en route to our amazing SALVA ovens.
2) NEW FLAVOR DROPS
New flavors are on the way......Korean-influenced croissant, anyone? Sourdough flavor inspired by South China + Switzerland.....Do you have any guesses on what is coming? We'll announce it here 1st.
When the new flavors arrive, the Cherry Parm Sourdough and Hibiscus Tequila Knot will disapear. Now is the time to eat just one more! (Pro Tip: The Cherry Parm freezes well - stock your freezer!)
We're open and baking hot from the oven:
Tuesday - Saturday
7a-2p
Live music every Saturday.
*note Saturdays are super busy, we recommend visiting during the week for the best experience.
Either pop on by or place an order ahead of time. If you have a pre-order, you can also use IZOLA Drive By — just give us a call at 619-289-8358 when you're outside, and we'll deliver your croissant and cappuccino to you in your car!
IN MEMORIUM
The IZOLA family lost a team member this past week and we wanted to take a moment to remember Dojo team member Mark. Mark was an adventurous soul who scaled mountains, lived life to the fullest and loved his Padres. He made an impact on all of us, but his loss is deeply felt each and every day in our Dojo. Our team grieves for you Mark and we wish that we could get to feel the joy you brought to the Dojo one more time.
KITCHENS FOR GOOD
Our mission at IZOLA is to change the way Americans think about sourdough and croissants. And who are we kidding? Most people probably don't think about either at all!
We work toward this each day by serving our croissants and sourdough hot from the oven, focusing our attention on hospitality and the guest experience, and pairing this with our justice-driven mission.
One crucial element that allows us to deliver on this is our passion for building exceptional teams. What's our not-so-secret secret? We partner with amazing local organizations like Kitchens for Good, Second Chance, and CEO, all of which provide Restorative Justice Re-Entry (RJRE) support for people who have experienced criminal justice or addiction. Graduates of these organizations' programs are among our strongest team members overall and currently account for 17% of our team.
Kitchens for Good is the first organization we began partnering with over three years ago. We love working with KFG because they provide their apprentices with in-depth training and ongoing support to help set each apprentice up for success. They work closely with us to understand the key traits we're looking for in team members and the specific nuances between each of our departments.
We want to welcome KFG's new Workforce Development Manager, Sally! Thank you for visiting us at the bakeshop to get to know us better and solicit feedback to help build an even stronger partnership.
If you're a local business looking to hire bakers, line cooks, dishwashers, front of house team members...you can learn more here about how to become a KFG Employer Partner and you can reach out directly to Sally as well.
If you'd like to help support the life changing work that KFG is doing, donate below!
THANK YOU CLEAN & SAFE!
We are incredibly fortunate here in downtown San Diego to have the Downtown San Diego Partnership as a resource for local businesses and community members, particularly their Clean and Safe team. They have an easy-to-use app that allows anyone to report any safety or cleanliness issues that need immediate attention. I love it, and use it 2-3 times per day. For example, I spotted some graffiti yesterday, alerted them via app, and a clean and safe team member was scrubbing it off 15 minutes later. Amazing!
One unique service they offer is their safe walking program, in which their dedicated ambassadors will accompany you as you walk through downtown, whether that's to and from work or home from the grocery store.
Much of our team arrives before the sun rises, and so we reached out to Clean and Safe to better understand how our team could utilize this service. They didn't just point us to the app, instead, they partnered directly with us to walk us through how to enter a request into the app, they followed up each day to see how the experience went for our team, and continued to work with us to refine the program in order to better serve our community.
So if you live or work in downtown, or just find yourself in our neck of the woods often, download the app today and we can work together to make downtown an even cleaner, safer and more vibrant place to live, work, and play.
CITY HEIGHTS COMMUNITY
We are preparing to build the IZOLA Main Dough Factory and Bakeshop at the corner of Fairmount and 43rd in City Heights, which will bring high-quality jobs with training and internal advancement accessible to members of the community, create new community gathering space for children and families to improve social health (and enjoy hot from the oven croissants), and revitalize an important corner with a zero-emission dough factory that helps to de-carbonize City Heights.
Soon, we will meet with the City Heights Community Planning Group and others, and we'd like to share your thoughts about IZOLA Main in City Heights with the group members. If you live in City Heights or are a community group member in City Heights, we need your help with a letter of support. Please reach out to Alejandra Salas for details. This is an ambitious project which will bring benefits to the community for decades, but its success is by no means guaranteed, we need everyone's support to move past the status quo and make a difference.
INVEST IN IZOLA
Join Jenny and me, IZOLA's co-founders, at our next investor conversation on Google Meet before our Early Bird perk ends (ends Sep 15th!). Learn more about where we're headed, how we intend to use automation to improve efficiency + profit margins + quality, raise wages, and reduce our environmental footprint, and how you can get involved.
Wednesday, September 4
6:30p on Google Meet
Learn more about IZOLA Main and our plans for the future as we raise funds for IZOLA's next chapter.
Believe in what we do? Join us.
To learn more, RSVP for our Wednesday call and drop by for a minute to say hi or stay the whole time. It's fun and super casual. We'll share with you where we've been and our plans for the future.
Never invested before? Not to worry! It's super simple.
*Please only invest an amount you would feel comfortable losing. Investing in private businesses involves risk. Though potential returns are designed to reflect that risk, you may lose your entire investment.
LIVE MUSIC SATURDAYS
Come join us every Saturday for live music from 8a-1p. Here are a few of the musicians that will be joining us this Saturday!
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.
MAYBEAR
8-9a
Maybear is a singer-songwriter and indie rock musician based in San Diego. Some of her influences are Clairo, Phoebe Bridgers and Raveena.
HORACIO JONES
10-11a
Horacio Jones is a highly sought-after classical guitarist based in San Diego, renowned for his expert performances of works by Bach, Brouwer, and Lauro. With extensive experience and a refined style, he adds a sophisticated touch to any event.
JULIE SEELY
11-12p
Julie Seely is a local musician who covers pop, folk, and alternative songs.
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