One Year & Almost A Quarter Million Units Later...

HOT FROM THE OVEN

One of the things I cherish most about IZOLA is how many intricate, moving parts come together just to deliver something as beautifully simple as a warm loaf of sourdough. It sounds so straightforward — but behind the scenes, it’s a true symphony of planning, precision, and care.

It all begins with thoughtful planning. Our team starts by setting sales forecasts, making sure we have just the right amount of ingredients on hand. Then they pre-scale flour and amendments for each recipe — setting the stage for a day of detailed, hands-on preparation.

Take our Artichoke and Feta Sourdough, for example. We roast trays of artichoke hearts until they're golden and crisp, building layers of deep umami flavor. Each olive is carefully inspected for pits (yes, every single one). Lemons are hand-zested — because frozen zest just doesn’t compare. And the feta? Cubed into generous chunks to ensure every bite is rich and flavorful.

Elsewhere at IZOLA, garlic is roasting for our Roasted Garlic Sourdough, filling the air with that familiar, mouthwatering aroma. And for our Lao Gan Ma Gruyère Sourdough, the team strains gallons of chili crisp by hand — all to bring that crave-worthy heat and depth to every loaf.

It’s a labor of love — one that takes dozens of thoughtful steps, a bit of choreography, and a whole lot of heart.

When mix day arrives and the making begins, it's all about precision. Sourdough is touchy! It needs happy leavan, the right ambient temperatures, confident yet gentle handling, and the team is working against a ticking clock.

Each loaf is shaped lovingly by hand — and for certain flavors, like our Lao Gan Ma Gruyère Sourdough, our team adds ingredients individually to every single loaf to ensure bold, consistent flavor in every bite.

Take that loaf, for example: the chili crisp and cheese aren’t just mixed in. They’re added four separate times during the shaping process — per loaf! It’s a lot of extra care and effort, but it’s what creates that beautiful swirl of chili heat and melty Gruyère in every slice.

Because for us, every detail matters — and our team brings that dedication to life, loaf after loaf.

After an overnight cold ferment in our walk-ins, our Bake Team takes over. Jenny and Colin supply our Bake team with a minute-by-minute bake schedule that forecasts our inventory needs, and on top of that the Bake team are making live pivots all morning long in response to the needs of our Front of House team. Our goal is to provide the hottest, freshest sourdough to you straight from our ovens - so Bake and Front of House are in communication with each other via radio all morning long to either slow the bake down, speed it up, or push specific flavors earlier into the bake.

As the sourdough is coming out of the ovens, the Bake team runs them through QC - they check against our quality control cards to ensure the size meets our minimum requirements, the color of the crust meets are target color (we like a deeper, harder bake), and they'll cut loaves open to check the crumb and proper amendment dispersion. Once the loaf passes QC, it heads to Expo and ultimately gets packed for your order!

The set of QC pictures above is a sample of the data our Bake team collects and sends out every day over Slack so that our production departments can monitor their own performance. We firmly believe that information is power - the more feedback our production teams receive on how the product is baking out, the more opportunities they have to continue to refine their craft.

Craving a hot loaf of sourdough now?? They're served hot-from-the-oven 7 days a week, from 7a-2p. Pre-order now or just pop on by.

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 your car with a smile! We call it IZOLA Drive By.

PRE-ORDER NOW

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MY LIFE ONE YEAR AGO

This Friday is our one year anniversary here at IZOLA Island - hooray!! It was a short one year ago that my life looked like what you see above as we worked night and day to get re-opened as soon as we could....🤣 Fast forward to today? My hair still looks the same. But IZOLA Island looks very different!

One year ago, we were putting the final touches on our renovation, installing equipment, training a brand-new team of 40, and knee-deep in planning our soft launch.

Today, just one year in, our team members are becoming eligible for their very own 401(k)! What a milestone.

In our tiny 319-square-foot Dojo, our pastry team has crafted over 200,000 pieces of pastry — hand-carrying more than 16,000 trays up the stairs and into the proofers. Our bakers? They've completed over 4,000 individual bakes.

Our Sourdough team has shaped over 24,000 loaves by hand. That’s 53,000 pounds of dough carried downstairs to the coolers... and then back upstairs to bake. Now that is the IZOLA workout! That’s more than 3,400 batches of bread loaded into our Salva deck ovens — each one handled with care by our team.

Meanwhile, our Front of House team has packed and served over 97,000 orders — and our small but mighty dish team? They’ve washed more than 192,800 plates, 77,600 cutting boards, and 24,800 sheet pans. (Yes, we counted.)

A huge CONGRATULATIONS to the entire IZOLA team.

These numbers are inspiring — and we love our data! But more than that, they’re a reminder of just how extraordinary our team truly is. The work can be grueling, yet their commitment, resilience, and heart never waver. It means everything to us when we see you enjoying a warm croissant or loaf of bread with the people you love. Every kind word, generous tip, or thoughtful Google review helps keep the fire going — it's truly the icing on the cake.

And this message isn’t just for us. Behind every neighborhood bakery, coffee shop, or restaurant is a team of hardworking folks — the ones who wake up early, stay late, scrub the pans, carry the weight (literally and figuratively), and keep things running so we can gather around the table.

To all of them, and to you for supporting us — thank you, thank you, thank you.

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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!