Bonnie Lynn Tempesta

Bonnie Tempesta, known as the "Queen of Biscotti" and founder of La Tempesta Bakery.
Bonnie Tempesta, known as the "Queen of Biscotti".

Bonnie Lynn Tempesta (January 5, 1953 – September 25, 2014) helped pioneer the gourmet food movement in the United States. Called "the Queen of Biscotti."[1] Tempesta "effectively started the national biscotti craze."[2]

With her mother Aurora Marcheschi, Tempesta founded La Tempesta Bakery Confections in 1983.[3] The bakery grew to become the largest biscotti maker in America,[4] producing 300,000 biscotti cookies daily and generated annual revenues approaching $9 million by 1995.[5]

In 1982, Tempesta used her Florentine aunt Isa Romoli's recipe to produce biscotti — the flat, crunchy, twice-baked cookies traditionally used by Italians to dunk in wine or espresso.[6] Baking them from home, she began selling them to her employer at Confetti, a downtown San Francisco chocolate shop.[7] With a $15,000 loan from her brother,[8] Cork Marcheschi, "a noted neon light sculptor,"[9] Tempesta rented a 200-square-foot (19 m2) commercial kitchen in South San Francisco.[10] She began producing a long, thin biscotti known as "biscotti di Prato"[11] and sold them door-to-door to San Francisco’s specialty food shops.[12]

By 1984, La Tempesta biscotti were available at Neiman Marcus and Lord & Taylor, followed by Bloomingdales, Macy’s and Dean & Deluca.[13] In 1985, La Tempesta developed Cioccolotti, the first commercially sold chocolate-dipped biscotti.

In 1992, La Tempesta’s Biscotti di San Francisco made the Washington Times 10 Best New Products list,[14] and The Washington Post rated it the number one domestic brand.[15] Collaborations with renowned San Francisco chocolatier Joseph Schmidtfollowed.[16][17][18][19] In 1994, Tempesta created the non-profit Teen Inspiration Foundation.[20] In December 1997, La Tempesta was sold to Horizon Food Groups.

In 2012, Bonnie started a small, philanthropic baking company in Kenwood, CA, called Boncora (the name Boncora is derived from Bonnie's name, “Bon,” and “ancora,” which means encore in Italian.) Her handmade Tuscan-style almond cookies are twice-baked in the regional style of the famous Biscotti di Prato of Prato, Italy. Los Angeles Times Food Editor Russ Parsons called Boncora Biscotti "dynamite" in his Daily Dish column on September 14, 2012. She donated a portion of every sale to a favorite cause: Pets Lifeline of Sonoma County, a local nonprofit animal rescue organization.

Bonnie Tempesta died on September 25, 2014 at her home in Sonoma after a brief battle with cancer. She was 61.[21]

References

  1. ↑ Wood, Jim. "Epicure." San Francisco Examiner
  2. ↑ Fletcher, Janet. "Playing the Market." Oakland Tribune 30 Oct 1991
  3. ↑ Simonds, Shelly. "Recipe for Success." San Francisco Business Times 28 Oct 1994
  4. ↑ Simonds, Shelly. "Recipe for Success." San Francisco Business Times 28 Oct 1994
  5. ↑ Adler, Jerry. "The Rise of the Overclass; The Overclass 100." Newsweek 31 July 1995: 32–46
  6. ↑ Scicolone, Michele. "Sweets to Lower Into a Drink Without Raising Eyebrows." The New York Times 8 Jan 1992
  7. ↑ Rotenier, Nancy. "La Tempesta." Forbes 18 Dec 1995
  8. ↑ Shurluff, Lawrence. "Blood and Money." Working Woman Magazine Dec 1992
  9. ↑ Schreibman, Jack. "She Found Road to Riches Lathered with Chocolate." The Modesto Bee 28 Dec 1989
  10. ↑ "Rotenier, Nancy. "La Tempesta." Forbes 18 Dec 1995
  11. ↑ Jordan, Sheryl. "When Our Fancy Turns to Food." The Boston Globe 30 July 1986
  12. ↑ Kummer, Corby. The Atlantic June 1987
  13. ↑ Rotenier, Nancy. "La Tempesta." Forbes 18 Dec 1995
  14. ↑ Olney, Judith and McCall, Celeste. "New Twists in Life." The Washington Times 5 Aug 1992.
  15. ↑ Heater, Maida. "An Expert’s Urge to Bake the Best." The Washington Post 16 Dec 1992
  16. ↑ King, Sarah Belk and Frazier, Ann. "What’s New. What’s Hot. What’s Good." Bon Appetit Magazine Oct 1995
  17. ↑ Kaufman, Pamela. "Selects." Food & Wine Magazine Oct 1995
  18. ↑ Fletcher, Janet. "Million Dollar Discards." San Francisco Chronicle 9 Aug 1995
  19. ↑ Nangle, Hilary. "La Tempesta Teams with Joseph Schmidt." Gourmet News Vol. 60, # 4, April 1995
  20. ↑ Giuca, Linda. "Biscotti Bakery Has A Cause." Hartford Courant 23 Nov 1994
  21. ↑ San Francisco Chronicle, Obituaries, Sept 2014 http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate/obituary.aspx?pid=172677065
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