Southern Hospitality: Wells Provisions brings their expertise to the Berkshires

Wells Provisions is a cafe located in Charlemont, MA. Below, the team shares some details on their business and the importance of supporting local.

Describe your business:

Wells Provisions is a breakfast and lunch cafe serving up New Orleans (where we hail from!) flavor with a good dose of local! Pulling from Barrington Coffee Roasting Company, we’re also a coffee shop with a beautiful espresso machine. Our coolers are loaded with gourmet meals, plus specialty grocery items. We’ve got wine (with an emphasis on natural wines), craft beers, and a curated spirit collection. We also have ice cream! Who says you can’t be all things to everyone? We’re doing our best to create a special place with a sense of community here in our corner of Western Massachusetts.

What makes your business unique?

We’ve spent our entire careers working in the best restaurants in New Orleans. We’ve been members of teams that have cooked at the revered James Beard House three times. We’ve traveled to London with the lieutenant governor of Louisiana to represent New Orleans cuisine in Europe. We believe in cooking from scratch with layers of flavor, and we’re bringing our experience to the hills of Western Mass to create a special place for all! We’ve built our store and cafe to be inviting and give all guests a sense of comfort because dining out isn’t just about the food; it’s about the entire experience. Our goal is to create the ultimate dining and shopping experience. Also, our gumbo is pretty darn good. We’ve even had people take the two-plus-hour drive from Boston to get a bowl and take a quart home.

What does your business look like?

We have breakfast and lunch five days a week; our kitchen is open from 7:30am to 3pm. Our full coffee bar includes a La Marzocco espresso machine. Gourmet to-go meals and specialty local food products stock our market. We have a curated wine, craft beer, and spirit collection, most from small, talented producers. We strive to keep things affordable because we believe that everyone should be able to enjoy the simple pleasures in life. Our service style is counter service. This way, folks can come in and feel equally comfortable ordering a coffee as they would ordering a full meal. Our market is open until 7pm, so guests can stop on their way home or when they get off the slopes for a quick gourmet meal that they can throw in their oven to heat up. We have a website with our menus and invite guests to order over the phone or in person.

Why is it important to support businesses like yours?

We have outside dining and an ice cream window that provided activity and life to the village of Charlemont this spring through fall. After their big wins, we served the local elementary school baseball teams and provided a place for friends to meet up and share a coffee or ice cream cone. We have built Wells Provisions to be a third go-to place – you have your home, your work; we want Wells Provisions to be the other place you go to feed your soul.

Do you want to say anything to your customers?

We’ve only been open a few months. It’s been lots of work to get our business off the ground (especially during a pandemic), but the outpouring of community support has been incredible. From kind words to small gifts of appreciation, we feel the love, and it has helped us get through these grueling start-up months!

How has your business changed or adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic?

We opened during the pandemic, so we’ve had to build COVID-19 policies and safety procedures into our entire business plan.