32 years serving the Charlotte community

IT’S OFTEN SAID THAT FOOD MADE WITH LOVE TASTES BETTER. At Pasta & Provisions, the proof is in the pasta. “I try to practice and live my life with loving kindness as a guiding principle,” says founder and owner Tommy George. “Treating employees and customers with that in mind fosters an environment of happiness.” In the 1980s, Tommy, a native Charlottean and graduate of the University of Massachusetts Boston, worked for Italian food purveyor Capone Foods in Boston’s historic Haymarket district. After welcoming three sons with wife Debbie, the couple spent nights crafting a business plan for a fresh pasta store in Tommy’s hometown. They opened Pasta & Provisions on Providence Road the day before Thanksgiving in 1992. Within a year, the company expanded its retail shop and wholesale business and notched a half-million dollars in sales. Since then, the neighborhood specialty grocer has become an epicurean institution in Charlotte, adding Park Road and Mint Street locations and offering house-made fresh pasta, a curated selection of gourmet foods, a rotating lineup of Italian wines and craft beers, a deli, bakery, and catering. Son Dylan serves as general manager. Pasta maker Agustin Or-tez, a former co-worker of Tommy’s at Capone Foods, and baker Oscar Flores joined Pasta & Provisions in 1993. Tommy’s younger brother Stephen, a Johnson & Wales University graduate who passed away in 2003, was the shop’s first chef and developed recipes still used in the kitchens today. “We strive to keep our products affordable and of the highest quality,” Tommy says. “Never underestimate the power of pasta and good people.”

Pasta & Provisions | Providence Road, Park Road & Mint Street | pastaprovisions.com