Nice Ventures, Inc.
Nice Ventures, (named after and pronounced like Nice, France) was founded in 1995 and has over 30 years of restaurant management experience in opening, operating, and closing restaurants in San Francisco.
Nice Ventures has worked extensively in the areas of restaurant development, restaurant management, operations, permitting, accounting, human resources, healthcare solutions, restaurant advocacy, and public policy.
PRESS
BIO
What started as a personal love of food and a side business venture as a restaurant investor, turned into a career for Laurie Thomas, owner of Nice Ventures. Thomas owned and operated several restaurants in San Francisco, including Rose Pistola, Rose's Cafe, The Black Cat, and Terzo.
In January 2020, Thomas took on the Executive Director position for the Golden Gate Restaurant Association (GGRA), a nonprofit trade organization focused on helping Bay Area restaurants survive and thrive. In this role she led San Francisco restaurants through the numerous challenges with San Francisco's health restrictions and covid closures and was active in helping create the parklet program (Shared Spaces). Thomas also was instrumental in filing Prop M, the Gross Receipts Tax Reform measure that passed in 2024. She continues to lead the GGRA and is focused on helping promote the San Francisco restaurant community.
Thomas is committed to giving back to the San Francisco community. Thomas is a past Meals on Wheels board member; a San Francisco non-profit focused on feeding the elderly and was a founding member on the board of the Friends of Larkin Street, a sub-board of Larkin Street, focused on fundraising for at risk youth.
Thomas enjoys hanging out with her husband and cat Mookie, and traveling, skiing, hiking, and sampling San Francisco restaurants.
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