For fifteen years Nora Tong worked as a pastry chef in numerous hotels, restaurants and gourmet pastry shops. After training in Switzerland, Belgium and France Nora used her talents to create delicious treats that were enjoyed by the likes of Bill Clinton and Julia Child. However, she always dreamed of owning her own pastry business and in September of 2001 Nora used her personal savings to begin renting kitchen space and opened Nora’s Patisserie. Using all natural ingredients, organic flour, and pure butter to create her European-style pastries, Nora knew how to create the perfect product, but she needed help managing her business so in 2004 she came to Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center to attend the Business Planning Class.
At Renaissance Nora learned how to grow her business and was able to move in to a rental kitchen in Bayview/Hunter’s Point. She began producing her fancy tea cookies and bite sized pastries in greater quantities and expanded her client list to include a number of high-end caterers such as Daniel Ripley Catering as well as downtown hotels like the Omni, Hotel Nikko and the new InterContinental. Despite her success, Nora continued to improve her business by taking more classes at Renaissance including Advanced Management, QuickBooks and Advanced Finance while attending monthly consultations with Gwendolyn Wright.
In 2008 Nora was able to achieve her dream of moving Nora’s Patisserie into its own production facility when she signed a 5-year lease for a 1940’s old-time bakery in Colma. In addition to antique chandeliers, valued ceilings and torseto floors the new space came with an added bonus: a retail store space! Using a $5,000 grant she received from Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center in November 2008 Nora was able to hire additional staff, now totaling two full-time and three part-time employees and opened her retail store in December of 2008.
Now that the busy holiday season is over, Nora is hoping to get her production running even more efficiently and expand her wholesale capabilities while further engaging her newfound Colma community.
Enjoy Nora’s Patisserie by going to