Kenwood’s Boncora Biscotti to Close This Month

Daniela Tempesta gave up her psychotherapy practice to take the reins of Kenwood's Boncora Biscotti, her late mother's cookie company, in 2014. Now, she says it's time to return to the career she loves.


Kenwood’s artisanal cookie maker Boncora Biscotti is shuttering its business this month, allowing the daughter of the late founder to resume her psychotherapy practice.

“Our intention was always to be a small, artisanal, slow food company,” owner Daniela Tempesta said in a statement issued this week. She opted not to talk in person.

“The economics of that kind of business are very difficult and the alternative, becoming a large-scale cookie factory, is not aligned with our values nor with my mother’s initial vision when she started Boncora in 2012.”

“Additionally, it is important to me to be able to return to my psychotherapy practice, something I gave up to run Boncora, as this is another deep passion of mine.”

Tempesta’s mother, Bonnie Lynn Tempesta, died of breast cancer in September 2014 at age 61, two years after founding Boncora.

Her previous business, La Tempesta Bakery Confections based in South San Francisco, became the largest biscotti producer in America and was sold in 1997 to Horizon Food Group of San Francisco.

After her mother’s death, Tempesta decided to keep Boncora open and more than doubled the number of retail accounts selling the company’s biscotti. In the busy season of September through December, the Kenwood bakery produced up to 25,000 biscotti a month.

Boncora’s twice-baked almond cookies — some hand-dipped in a blend of Guittard milk and semisweet chocolate — have been available at gourmet groceries, cafes and coffeehouses.

Earlier this month Tempesta announced on Boncora’s website the company’s closing.

“It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that Boncora Biscotti will be closing its doors at the end of April,” she wrote. “We are incredibly grateful to all of you for your support over the last several years. We could not have done it without you!”

A later post noted that within six hours of the announcement, “we sold out of 99 percent of our product.”

Tempesta wrote the company would try to boost production for a brief period “so we can keep you happy before we say goodbye.”

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rdigit