After being named #1 bakery in the U.S. earlier this year, San Diego's Izola is seeking investments to assist in company growth and a new location.
In early 2020, Jeffrey Brown and Jenny Chen returned from a trip to Europe to find themselves in forced quarantine together. After jumping aboard the bread-making trend that emerged in the early days of the pandemic, the duo began selling their breads and pastries from a tiny space above Brown's former photo studio in a building on 13th and G streets in San Diego's East Village. Using rock climbing equipment, the couple would take pre-orders and lower a rigged basket to the sidewalk beneath to maintain social distancing with customers. On their first day in business in June 2020, 12 croissants were lowered from their 3rd floor window to customers below. The word quickly spread and curiousity of the operation flourished, as did the couple's passion for their newfound hobby-turned business.
As the pandemic subsided and restrictions were lifted, Izola repurposed the former photo studio into a cafe space for customers to enjoy their baked goods with coffee and live musical performances. The space eventually became a destination for hungry customers. The demand grew to a boiling point when in June crowd-sourced review platform Yelp named Izola the #1 bakery in the United States.
Izola has acquired a 4,790 square-foot building in the Azalea Park neighborhood of City Heights in order to scale their operations to meet demand. In addition to opening a new production facility and cafe, the team hopes to purchase a bake truck in order to ship their breads and pastries to eateries around the city, as well as launch an Izola bake-at-home program.
Izola is currently seeking $1,000 minimum investments via Mainvest.com. There is currently over a half-million dollars invested in the company so far with over 3 months to get on board. Izola had previously received a $101,900 investment through the same platform.
Izola is located at 710 13th Street, Suite 300, in San Diego's East Village. For more information, visit izolabakery.com.
