For four years now, Azikiwee Anderson has been dreaming of the day he’d finally be able to open his cafe. It wasn’t easy getting here, but on Thursday, Rize Up Bakery celebrated the grand opening of its new cafe to the public. Rize Up has been baking at the SoMa warehouse since 2022, but it’s only now that the business is able to invite customers inside to enjoy a slice of toast and stay a while. 

“I’m over the moon,” Anderson said, grinning ear to ear in the golden-hued space reminiscent of a loaf of bread. 

Designed by Levy Art Architecture, the 1,000-square-foot cafe features a ribbed wooden ceiling with curves that recall a half-pipe, referencing Anderson’s background as a pro inline skater. The glass pastry case is stocked with cookies, quiche and biscuits, and another case is specifically dedicated to bread, from the everything loaf to the eye-catching purple ube loaf. Customers streamed in for breakfast, settling in at tables crafted from reclaimed cypress by woodworker Joel Passovoy. Behind the cafe counter is an open kitchen, where you can watch the bakers at work in the enormous 5,000-square-foot space. 

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Country pan masala and country pan K-pop bread at Rize Up Bakery in San Francisco on Sept. 10, 2026.

The new customer space at Rize Up Bakery in San Francisco on Sept. 10, 2026.

Spiced banana cake in the display case at Rize Up Bakery in San Francisco on Sept. 10, 2026.

Anderson was a private chef before starting Rize Up Bakery in 2020. What started as a healing pandemic project following the murder of George Floyd is now not only San Francisco’s first Black-owned sourdough bakery, but also one of its best-known bakeries. You can find Rize Up loaves with their signature raised Black fist logo everywhere from farmers markets across the Bay Area to grocery stores like Bi-Rite and Berkeley Bowl, as well as at restaurants like Flour Water and Palm City Wines. With so much growth, opening a Rize Up cafe only made sense — but a series of unfortunate events delayed that step until........

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