front door painted yellow
The former Salty Tart bakery on Harriet is being put to good use. Provision Community Restaurant is now open in the space. After more than 2 years in the making, the eatery will serve its first meal tonight, without presenting a single check.
Anna Wienke has worked almost every position in the restaurant industry, and is the driving force behind this project. This restaurant will feed you dinner and weekend breakfast, and if you can pay for it, great ... if you can't, also great.
Anna is following the lead of the One World Everybody Eats organization, which is a non-profit dedicated to supporting the pay-what-you-can restaurant model as a way to build community and fight hunger. They have over 50 independent cafes in their network around the world.
"This is about creating a space for the community to come and get nourished, whether that be with healthy food or human interaction." This isn't a just a soup kitchen that feeds the homeless, though anyone is welcome, there's no checking of ID's or proof of hardship needed. It's for anyone who might be down on their luck, need a good meal, or some human connection to break out of isolation. "I would see these people at St. Stephen's who would go to work all day, then come back to the shelter because they had nowhere to go. Or the elderly lady in line at Target who seems to talk your ear off because she's alone at home, this is a place where they can have a break, can sit down to a meal with others, and not have to worry about anything." Everything is served family style and all of the 30 seats are at communal tables.
Four tables set in the dining area
The restaurant works largely with donations and fundraising, and the majority of their food is recused from the Twin Cities Co-ops warehouse, or from partners like Good Acre which gives the leftovers from their CSA program, or Rustica which provides them a solid flow of bread. The menu at Provision will be set for the day of service, depending on what they've been able to procure, "We've been getting produce and food from Good Acre since July, so we've been freezing vegetables, making stock, and boosting our pantry to get ready for today. We know it will be a lot of veggies on the menu, meat is just harder to get through donation, but we're excited about having pastas and grains with veggies, and we'll definitely have pizza too," Anna told me.
There will be two seatings, 5pm and 7pm on Wed-Fri evenings, and a Saturday morning breakfast from 10am - 12pm. My big main question was: should I come? I mean, knowing that there are only 30 seats and two seatings a night, would I be right in taking one up? "You should definitely come, and pay what you feel. If you think what we are doing is a good thing, and you like that we exist, come and be a part of it. Talk to people you've never met before at a table. And if you don't want to come, or can't make it, you can always donate."
Anna believes she needs 12 people a day to pay at least $20 to make it all work, so yes go fill a seat and pay $20 or $40 or $100 if you can. You won't be given a bill, but there will be a computer system where you can use your card to donate. And they always take cash and checks, providing receipts for everything.
"I couldn't have done this if it weren't for everyone in the industry who is willing to help. From the volunteers who are serving and doing some cooking, to the people like Shea who helped us with the build out, and like Bauhaus Brewing who gave us $1 from every ticket to Schwandtoberfest (netting +$2,000!), to Brent Frederick from Jester Concepts who has been my mentor though all of this. I had no idea how to open a restaurant, and he helped me get to today."
The space itself does double duty as a commercial kitchen, so if you're looking for that kind of space to make your foodstuffs for business, consider that by paying rent you'd be paying it forward for so many others.
"I just got tired of all the bad that was happening in the world, it felt like everything was going to hell," Anna said. "This has restored my faith in humanity, I have seen so much generosity in the past few years, it's been amazing." Anna hopes that they can open 4 more of these restaurants in different communities throughout the metro within 10 years. I believe she can.
Besides donating and eating, what can you do? There are upcoming monthly Sustainability Dinners with local chefs you can check out, but why not pop in this Saturday evening to their Fall Feast Fundraiser and see what it's all about.
We all know people who are living paycheck to paycheck or are just one medical bill away from losing everything, even if we can't name them. Amplify the light that Anna has lit, everyone eats.
