If you thought we were going to let the end of the year pass by without an overly reflective look back at 2025... you were almost right. But, ever the overachievers over here, we're getting it in with 30ish hours to spare.
True to form, that overachiever syndrome was hard at work in '25, and we wouldn't have it any other way. From epic guest chef pop-ups to fundraisers that inspired our craft to the launch of a frozen pizza line, we packed every minute of this year. All of it was possible because of our incredible Flour + Water Hospitality Group team (and the power of Yerba Madre).
So, before we leap into '26, let's look back at some of our favorite moments from a year that stretched us to dream big... and make more pizza + pasta than we ever thought was humanely possible.
- Opened our first standalone Flour + Water Pizza Shop in SF's Mission Rock neighborhood, a collaboration with the SF Giants + Tishman Speyer.
- Signed a lease for our first East Bay restaurant, our second standalone Flour + Water Pizza Shop that's opening in Oakland this Jan '26.
- Launched a Flour + Water Foods' frozen pizza line in Bay Area stores and immediately sold out (again + again).
- Celebrated our half-million donation for long-time partner Zero Foodprint in support of their mission to restore the health of the planet.
- Hosted fundraisers for incredible local orgs doing the work for our Bay Area community including Farming Hope, Bayview Black Organic Farmers Program, LYRIC, Gum Moon, and La Raza.
- Collaborated with Bernal Cutlery + Japanese artisan Prince to create "The World's Best Pizza Cutter."
- Our Flour + Water Sr. Dir. of Ops Amanda Flores's Bay Area Restaurant Collective officially became a nonprofit to grow the group's impact through events that support the health of the industry community.
- Our Flour + Water Bev Dir Sam Bogue introduced the second vintages of two of our most popular collab wines: a '24 "Big Night" sparkling red with Hammerling in Berkeley, and a '24 "Bocca al Luppo" Vermentino with Les Lunes in Richmond.
- We had the most fun hosting guest chef pop-ups with our friends at Xiao Ye, Bar Le Côte, Quarter Sheets, FINI Pizza, and Hadeem. (Click the links for some cuuuute photos.
- And speaking of cute... our lead pastamaker Rodrigo Hernandez made a lotta stunning pasta shapes in our Flour + Water Pasta Shop including spinach pino crafted to look like Christmas trees, and rainbow scarpinocc for Pride month.
- We also teamed up with some legends for epic collab specials at our Pasta Shop. We're looking at you, Spaghetti Grilled Cheese (courtesy of Joshua McFadden's Six Seasons of Pasta); Curry Potato-and-Pea Dumpling Salad (courtesy of Hetty McKinnon's Linger); and a Salt & Straw Salted Malted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich.
- We served more than 6,000 plates of taleggio scarpinocc at Flour + Water; 149,000 pizzas out of our North Beach Pizzeria; and 10,000 bowls of cacio e pepe between Penny Roma and the Pasta Shop.
- We hit the road to participate in some of our favorite food events to date including Ojai Food + Wine, the International Pizza Expo in Vegas, and Southern Smoke Foundation's Farmstead Live Fire fundraiser in Napa.
- We wrote this list...
- ... and wished you all a Happy New Year!
