Just like the yeast it uses in the hundreds of hot-from-the-oven croissants and sourdough loaves it sells each day, Izola artisan bakery in San Diego’s East Village is getting ready to grow.
Izola co-founders Jeffrey Brown and Jenny Chen have purchased a 5,000-square-foot building in City Heights that they will convert this year into a large-scale dough factory. Pastry teams will mix, prep, shape and freeze pre-baked bread items. From there, the pastries will be trucked to individual Izola bakeshops, where they’ll be proofed and baked in programmable Salva ovens from Spain.
Izola artisan bakery co-founders and co-executive chefs Jenny Chen, left, and Jeffrey Brown. (Jeffrey Lamont Brown)
For now, Izola has just one location — its 18-month-old bakery-restaurant on Island Avenue overlooking Fault Line Park in downtown San Diego. But Brown said he and Chen are negotiating to open a second location in Coastal North County in mid-2026.
Until the dough factory opens, the Island Avenue location, which has a dough-prep kitchen in its basement, can supply the future North County location. But when the dough factory opens, it will be capable of supplying both San Diego County locations, as well as any locations that come online after that, be they in Orange County, San Francisco or beyond.
Brown and Chen launched Izola (named after Brown’s grandmother Izola) in June 2020 as a way to stay busy and create an income stream after the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered Brown’s commercial film and photography business and Chen’s e-commerce product development and merchandising business.
The interior of Izola artisan bakery in San Diego’s East Village. (Jeffrey Lamont Brown)
Working from a home oven in the East Village loft where they lived and worked at the time, they started out making just a few dozen croissants a day, and — in keeping with social-distancing rules at the time — they lowered the baked-to-order boxed pastries down to customers via rope from their second-story window.
From the beginning, the couple’s goal was to work with the best ingredients and deliver baked goods to customers fresh from the oven. Their unique service model and product quality made Izola an overnight internet sensation. In 2022, Yelp ranked Izola the No. 1 bakery in the U.S. based on user reviews, and in 2023, Izola ranked No. 5 of the top 10 most TikTok’d bakeries in the United States.
In June 2024, they relocated their business to its current location at Island Avenue and 14th Street, where it has become a tremendous success. It has earned nearly 2,000 Google reviews with a 4.8 star rating, one of the highest rankings for an individual restaurant in San Diego.
The wine poached pear crossant at Izola artisan bakery in San Diego’s East Village. (Jeffrey Lamont Brown)
Brown credits the success of the business to the consistency of its products and its “warm” service ethos, referring both to the temperature of the pastries when they’re delivered to the table and the way Izola customers are treated.
Ninety percent of the restaurant’s business is dine-in, so its oversize and shareable food items are delivered to the table on wood cutting boards with bread knives and linen napkins.
If a customer is unhappy with their order, they’ll get a refund no questions asked. And the expanded baking schedule ensures that whether a customer arrives when the doors open at 7 a.m. or minutes before the doors close at 2 p.m., there will always be fresh-baked croissants waiting for them.
Another successful part of the business is the new series of sweet and savory croissants the company is now introducing every six to eight weeks. Brown said before the croissant is rolled into its traditional crescent shape, it’s a “canvas” they can use to create imaginative internationally flavored varieties.
The s’mores croissant at Izola artisan bakery in San Diego’s East Village. (Jeffrey Lamont Brown)
Some of the hottest sellers right now are this month’s new Wine Poached Pear Croissant with a Bosc half-pear poached in Cabernet Sauvignon wine and served over whipped mascarpone cheese in a cup-shaped croissant with cabernet gastrique. There’s also carnitas and muffaletta croissant options and a Korean-inspired Bibimbap croissant layered with bulgogi beef, vegetables, microgreens and house gochujang bap sauce.
What’s next? Brown said they’re planning a ramen croissant with a cup of ramen noodles, jammy egg, mustard greens and miso, served with a side of ramen broth.
“We’re passionate about pushing the limits of what a croissant can be and we have to love it to put it on the menu,” Brown said.
Brown said last week that 2025 was a record year, with retail sales in the seven figures. But the company’s prime costs are rising almost as quickly as sales, with food costs alone up 14 percent last year. By centralizing dough-making at the City Heights factory, they can ensure higher production, consistency and efficiency.
Brown and Chen, who now live in Bankers Hill, say the business model they admire most is that of the Taiwanese restaurant chain Din Tai Fung, known for its soup-filled dumplings. No matter which of its locations you dine at — be it in La Jolla, Vancouver or New York — the quality is always the same.
“We follow the Din Tai Fung model where they’re putting the restaurants in good neighborhoods where people can support it, and they’re sprinkled in destination cities all over the world,” he said. “We’re focusing on how do we think about where Izola would thrive and be great for the community.”
Izola artisan bakery
Hours: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily
Where: 1429 Island Ave., downtown San Diego
Phone: 619-289-8358
Online: izolabakery.com