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 selling restaurants in San Francisco.

Nice Ventures has worked extensively in the areas of restaurant development, restaurant management, operations, permitting, accounting, human resources, healthcare solutions, and public policy.

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 membership 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.