If you were to ask Randall Michael Tobin what his occupation is, it would be difficult to choose one particular thing. That’s because, in reality, he is a Renaissance man, a professional in the fields of music (songwriting, composing, arranging, producing, engineering, singing, performing live and in-studio), recording/mixing/mastering (audio and video), live sound engineer, graphic designer, digital designer (websites), typesetter, photographer/image editor, print publisher, computer consultant/educator, writer, brand manager, electrician/electronics tech, handyman, etc. Even did some acting as a child, on shows like Mr. Ed, Ben Casey and The Fugitive (TV). Oh, forgot one: founder and artisan baker/chef at Random Acts of Breadness, voted Burbank’s Best Bread in 2025 and 2026.
Other than the child actor thing, Randall continues to wear the above hats professionally. More details of Randall’s creative journey can be found in the About pages at ThetaMediaGroup.com.
A long-time resident of Burbank; Randall grew up through age 7 across the street from Thomas Jefferson Elementary School; returned to Burbank in 1988 where he and his wife, Cyndie, bought their first home on Riverside Drive in the equestrian district.
Randomly, in November 2016, Randall had an idea: “I wonder if I can make sourdough bread?” He’d never made bread before, let alone the formidable challenge of sourdough. But, being a student of health and wellness, he knew that was the best kind of bread to make, so the journey began. Additionally, Randall thought that if the bread turned out okay, it would make great gifts for the upcoming holiday season.
It took about seven weeks, but just before Christmas, Randall finally had some really good loaves coming out of the oven. Cyndie wrapped four of them up and they were personally presented to their intended recipients on Christmas Day.
The response was better than Randall expected. Each person who tasted the bread said it was the best bread they’d ever had! Randall was blown away! It was one thing to enjoy the bread, but giving the bread was so much better!
At that point, having a living sourdough starter, he knew he’d be making some bread every week. So Randall made a list of family, friends and clients, which came to about 100 people, and he decided to give bread to about 3 people a week. It would take 33 weeks to cover all the folks on the list. The game became, surprising those people with a random act of breadness, a fun phrase that described Randall’s bread philanthropy.
The results of this giving activity were amazing. But there was one downside, after people had received their random act of breadness, they didn’t want to wait another 8 months to get another one. They wanted to BUY the bread. Randall responded with, “It’s not for sale; only for giving.”
Quite a conundrum: Breadness made people happy. No Breadness made them unhappy.
In September 2017, Dave, one of Randall’s breadness recipients, had a heart attack. While Dave was in the hospital recuperating after successful surgery, he discovered “The Plant Paradox,” a groundbreaking book by Dr. Steven Gundry, former heart surgeon at Loma Linda University Hospital. Dave found the book life-changing and he suggested I read it. I bought the book and read it, but while reading it, I learned that most grains were problematic and not allowed on this anti-inflammation dietary program.
However, on pages 50 and 51 of the book, Dr. Gundry explains that it’s okay to eat the “white bread” in Europe and described how it’s made in countries like Italy and France: organic flour without the bran or germ (white), natural sourdough starter, long fermentation time. His description matched how Randall was already making his bread; people with gluten sensitivities he had given breadness to could eat the bread without negative reactions. This is in line with the anecdote, “You can go to France or Italy and eat the bread and pasta and feel great, not gain weight, etc.” Randall was elated when he read that section of the book!
Soon, Randall learned how to make artisan sourdough pizza crust and pizza. When Dave took a bite of one of these pizzas, he commented, “Dude, you gotta open a restaurant!”
And so began the journey of Randall, Plant Paradox-friendly chef! Chef Randall created a popup 7-course Italian dinner using Plant Paradox-friendly ingredients. He announced the dinner on Facebook and sold all 16 seats within a week. Randall hired a sous chef, a server, and with Randall’s wife, all helped to pull this amazing dining experience off. After-dinner surveys proved validating; besides the quality of the food, service and atmosphere, there were comments like, “I can’t believe how much energy I have after eating all this food!”
Dr. Gundry’s premise was correct: eating non-inflammatory foods from his “Yes List” and eliminating inflammatory foods from the “No List” actually worked. At the time, Randall’s food concept was called Ground Zero Gourmet, and you can see some of the dishes he prepared at groundzerogourmet.com. This is also how to contact the chef for private chef and catering services.
Randall continued to develop a game plan for a restaurant and held two popup “testaurants” to test his menu ideas and ability to deliver the items from kitchen to table. These were challenging endeavors and very helpful in determining the direction to go for a restaurant/café.
By this time, the concept name for this new idea became Random Acts of Breadness – Artisan Sourdough Bakery – Longevity Café – Legendary Bread Gifts. While searching for domain names, Randall found that breadness.com was available, so he secured that as well as the full name randomactsofbreadness.com! He considered that there were “bread angels” at work, for breadness.com to be available.
Chef Randall tested out the concept at a neighborhood event in Lake Balboa. There, Randall and Cyndie served free samples of Plant Paradox-friendly Chicken Pot Pie stew and Breadness artisan sourdough bread. In exchange for people trying the samples, Randall requested that each person join the Breadness email list. Randall also had a drawing for a prize to be given at a later date. The event was a hit and Random Acts of Breadness was on its way!
That was October 2019. A few months later, the world shut down and nobody was opening a restaurant. In fact, all the flour was sold out at markets and online stores. But Randall kept his dream alive, having frozen about 25 lbs of organic bread flour which kept his starter alive for several months.
In February 2021, Randall got a call from Mark, a good friend who also happened to be the insurance agent for a gal name Heather who owned an ice cream/pie shop on Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank. It was called Quenelle. Mark told Randall, “You know that bakery idea you have? Come take a look at this place. The owner is closing up and is looking for someone to take over the lease.” Randall was there in five minutes!
Noticing the place had an oven hood already in place, and finding out that the rent was reasonable, he agreed to go for it. Although the café part of his concept wasn’t going to work in that space, being able to make and bake the bread, and sell it as a take-out item, along with a couple of other healthy gourmet items, and also offer gift items like guitar-shaped cutting/serving boards, bread knives, tea towels and custom totes, it looked like a good starting point.
Random Acts of Breadness had its grand opening in August 2021. There was a line out the door and about 50 loaves of this organic artisan sourdough bread sold out in 2 hours. The next day, another 50 or so loaves were baked and sold out in about an hour and a half. And there was a waiting list for the following week!
At the end of the weekend, Randall reflected, “I guess the bread is as good as my friends and family said it was!”
That was almost 5 years ago. Since then, the offerings have expanded to 3 types of sourdough breads (traditional, cinnamon raisin maple walnut, chocolate), a fourth for December holidays (gingerbread), plus sourdough flatbreads, shortbread cookies, grain-free chocolate chip cookies and blueberry muffins (all Plant Paradox-friendly). The micro-bakery also carries a delicious assortment of jams, tapenades, raw butter, vegan butter, almond butter, extra virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegars. Complimentary samples of most items are available for tasting.
Chef Randall and his team can be seen in action during operating hours: 12 to 6pm Thursday to Saturday; 11am to 4pm on Sundays. Bakery tours are available for customers who are interested in how the bread is made.
Most items for sale can be shipped nationwide. Custom Breadness Gift Boxes are always a hit for special days, housewarmings, and hostess gifts.
Random Acts of Breadness is located at 2214 West Magnolia Blvd., 2 blocks east of Buena Vista, in Burbank. Their website is breadness.com – Phone: 818-562-7303
Voted myBurbank’s Best Bread for 2025 and 2026!
