Rize Up Bakery Opens First Public Café at SoMa Production Space

Azikiwee "Z" Anderson built Rize Up Bakery from a backyard oven in the Inner Richmond into one of San Francisco's most talked-about sourdough operations. Now, the wholesale production space he runs at 1160 Howard Street in SoMa has a public-facing café component to go with it, giving bread fans their first chance to walk in off the street and buy directly from the source.

Anderson converted the existing SoMa production kitchen into a retail café, targeting an opening by July 7, his birthday. The timeline matters because he was on track to open the space the previous year before costly water damage from a fire at a neighboring business forced a delay.

The menu centers on Rize Up's sourdough loaves, which have already built a following across Bay Area restaurant menus and farmers markets throughout the city. Those loaves run between $12 and $20, with the O.G. loaf, a $12 round made from an all-organic blend of wheat, whole wheat, spelt, rye, and malted barley flours, drawing roughly 75% of Anderson's existing customers. "Toast, a sandwich, making croutons, everything gets the classic San Francisco sourdough," Anderson said. "And when you invite people over for dinner, it's gonna hit hard. Especially when they've never tried our bread before."

The flavor lineup goes well beyond the classic: sesame-scallion, gochujang, masala, garlic-thyme, garlic confit, and the visually striking bright-purple ube loaf are all part of the rotation, alongside loaves studded with fresh berries, smoked kielbasa, or chopped scallions. The café will add grilled cheese sandwiches, Tartine-style open-faced toasts, cookies, pastries, meat hand pies, and ube bread pudding. Sandwich specials will incorporate ingredients from local collaborators, including miso from Shared Cultures. A full coffee program is also planned, though Anderson had not yet confirmed a roasting partner.

Anderson is also working through how to price bread for a broader audience. "I'm trying to figure out how to do both, to push the idea of what can be done but at the same time do things that are approachable, too," he said, citing a smaller pan loaf as one option he's considering.

Rize Up's origin story is woven into everything from its name to its logo. Anderson, a former professional rollerblader and private chef, started baking sourdough in 2020 as a way to process his grief after the death of George Floyd. The bakery's name draws from the Hamilton song "My Shot," and its logo is a raised Black fist. His starter came from Outerlands, a San Francisco bakery with its own deep sourdough roots. Early customers picked up loaves directly from Anderson's front porch before the operation grew large enough to require a dedicated production facility.

Anderson has cited Butter & Crumble and Breadbelly as models for what a busy, community-anchored San Francisco bakery can look like. The SoMa café gives him a permanent address to test that vision.