About Norman Pearce

Norman Pearce was raised on a farm in Sonoma County, as one of seven children. He has traveled extensively through Latin America, South America, North America, Central Europe, and in 1972, spent a year living and working on a kibbutz in Israel.

Norman graduated from San Mateo College with a degree in broadcast engineering, worked for a number of years in television, and earned an Emmy for the PBS production Rainbow's End.

​

In 1981 with a partner Norman created, planned, launched and operationalized the first stand-alone, public access interactive information retrieval system in the world (a predecessor to the Internet).

​

It was way too early for that business so in 1984, Norman left the fun of TV production, and travel and began a career in the Food & Beverage Industry.

​

As the original owner, operator and designer of the Pier 40 Roastery & Café, on the Embarcadero in San Francisco, Norman was responsible for the rehabilitation and transformation of the property into a landmark destination for the public. He was also the General Manager of the Union Street Roastery and the San Francisco Shopping Center Coffee Roastery.

​

He was the managing partner participating in the startup of the 6th Street Grille in Carmel, CA, an upscale restaurant/café in the heart of town. As part of the original startup team for Pasqua Coffee Bars of San Francisco, Mr. Pearce was the Director of Espresso Cart Operations & Catering. Norman also consulted for Adventure Cat sailing charters, the Marin County Farmers' Market, and Landmark Coffee, where he brought to his clients a varied background, with expertise that included the development of business plans, proforma P&Ls, operating manuals, personnel guidelines and marketing plans.

​