Provision shakes things up at uptown and Arcadia coffee shops

Customers will likely notice a change in Provision’s locations in uptown Phoenix and Arcadia. Prior to this spring, both coffee shops transformed into cocktail bars at night. However, co-owner Daniel Suh decided “it didn’t make sense to have the same concept carbon copied everywhere.”

So the bright, modern coffee shops underwent an evolution. Now, the Arcadia location is a coffee shop only, giving up its cocktail program and late-night hours. The uptown location still serves coffee, but has transitioned into becoming a restaurant.

The uptown location, which opened in the fall, was built with a kitchen and, according to Suh, the goal was always to expand the food program. Now, it serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and cocktails.

The Arcadia location will remain dedicated to coffee, but Suh says he hopes the uptown spot will help the business expand its horizons.

“We are always going to be tied to coffee because of our coffee roasting, but we want to brand ourselves in a way that people can think of us beyond just the coffee concept,” Suh says.

That doesn’t mean uptown customers won’t be able to grab their favorite coffee drinks.

“Our roots are coffee roasters and that’s not what a typical restaurant would be involved with, but because we have experience for over 10 years,” Suh says, “We know it is important.”

For Suh, Provision has always been focused on building community.

“Connecting people is part of our mission statement,” Suh says. The question, “You want to get some coffee?” is what people ask when they want to get to know someone better, Suh says, noting that he wanted to extend that concept with a restaurant.

“You really develop relationships over the dinner table,” Suh says.

The confidence to create a restaurant menu stems from the team’s experience with coffee.

“Coffee is so complex and has so many tastable components with so many identifiable flavors,” Suh says.

When you have such a complicated beverage and “you become a professional in the coffee industry, you have to develop a palate of precision and being able to taste and understand flavors and how they connect,” Suh says.

This translates to food, so it was natural to develop breakfast, lunch and dinner options, he says. Some highlights on the new uptown menu include toasts, breakfast sandwiches and burritos in the morning, fresh salads, sandwiches and pizza at lunch, and sharable dinner appetizers such as warm olives, steak skewers and roasted carrots with fresh herbs along with pizza served in the evenings.

“We are trying to do different experiences, different things, different menus,” Suh says. “It was liberating to have this idea that we can do different things in both locations but we can still be kind of tied together. Like a family,” Suh says.

Provision Uptown

711 E. Missouri Ave., #115

Provision Arcadia

4501 N. 32nd St.