After 5 months of massive preparation and drama (visit the original Breadness Blog episodes here), on August 6th, 2021, Random Acts of Breadness ~ Artisan Sourdough Bakery & Legendary Bread Gifts, opened its door to the public. It was a weekend to remember as we sold out of our first bake of over 50 loaves in 2 hours. The next day, we sold out our second bake in an hour-and-a-half and had a waiting list for the following weekend! 

When we first opened we only had our 2 artisan sourdough breads (Country Loaf and Cinnamon Raisin Maple Walnut sourdough), 2 Organic Pastures (now Raw Farm) butters, 3 solar-grown honey spreads from Clif Family, and some gift items (custom cutting boards, bread knives, tea towels and totes). Over the coming year we would add artisan jams from Laura Ann in Eagle Rock, premium olive oils and balsamic vinegars from Ojai and Modena, and fresh tapenades from Lisa in Pasadena. 

Shortly after opening I posted an announcement on the Facebook Plant Paradox Support Group. When I checked the next day there were about 140 comments from around the world asking, "Do you ship?" I was not expecting THAT! It took a few months to figure out the best way to ship our bread and in May of 2022 our system was put to the test with an order for 50 Breadness Boxes to be shipped all at once! We did a special bake just for that order and got all of the boxes out in time.

Five months after we opened, we got our Varia slicer from Belgium. But because our bread was too tender to slice the day it was baked without damage, we were advised by the company to let our bread rest longer before slicing. This turned out to be a complete change in the way we produced our breads and we shifted the process back a full day to allow our breads to cure overnight. The results were amazing and we've been curing and slicing our breads like this ever since!

By March 2022 we were ranked #1 on yelp for Best Bread in Burbank. It was a complete surprise to me as I hadn't done anything to promote that. 

Happy to report that we still come up in the #1 spot when searching for bread in Burbank. Thanks to all our customers who took the time to post their reviews!

August 2022: Our 1st anniversary was a big deal. We didn't have a ribbon cutting when we first opened but after joining the Burbank Chamber of Commerce, they asked if we wanted one for our anniversary, and we gladly accepted!

Year 2 was steady growth as word traveled far and wide about this little micro-bakery with amazing sourdough breads. One influencer who ordered from us via DoorDash posted his kudos on his social platforms and all of a sudden we had orders coming in from areas far beyond our promotion radius, including out of state! We eventually found out who the mystery promoter was when he came to the bakery!

We donated $50 Gift Cards to the Starlight Bowl 2022, 2023 and 2024 Summer Concert Series intermission raffles (and we would have continued that tradition this year but the Bowl is closed for repairs from the high winds in January). I also gave out bread samples and postcards that you can see being held up here.

Fall of 2022 is also when we began our association with Toluca Lake Magazine and Edible Magazine San Fernando Valley. In the months that followed, both publications did feature articles about Random Acts of Breadness and those reached whole new audiences for us. We continue to give our customers copies of the latest issue of Edible magazine which publishes every season.

In case you haven't seen these, just click/tap on the images below to link to the online versions of the articles.

The July 2024 edition of The Tolucan Times featured a full-page article about Random Acts of Breadness! We give this local monthly to our customers as well. 

Christmas 2022, 2023 and 2024 were CRAZY BUSY!!! We had orders in bags and boxes anywhere we could set up a table. And despite maxing out our bread production to over 300 loaves for the week, we still sold out in the middle of Christmas Eve day. (Good thing we carried more gourmet gifts than just our breads!)

Before we knew it it was August 2024 and our 3-year Anniversary! We had special events during the month featuring 2 of our vendors, Laura Ann of Laura Ann's Jams and Lisa Grabow (pictured below) of Beyond the Olive, makers of the fine Tapenades we carry. 

Our 4th year proved to be the most challenging yet with 3 of our staff moving on to new adventures, high winds and fires impacting the lives of so many, Laura Ann retiring from her wholesale jam business and Ojai Olive Oil Company suddenly limiting their retail vendors (like us) to the Ojai Valley area. 

But we took it all in stride and now we carry fruit spreads from around the world. And Lisa Grabow's Beyond the Olive extra virgin olive oils and balsamics are amazing. 

Recently, two of our wonderful customers, Luis and Christie, made a short video about our micro-bakery and posted it on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. It got lots of traction and soon we had customers driving from all over to try our sourdough! 

— Organic Artisan Sourdough Flatbread Crisps (Naked, Tuscan Herb, 
     Smoked, Cinnamon Raisin)