Pay-What-You-Can Cafe Is Now Serving South Minneapolis

After sitting empty for a few months after Salty Tart shuttered its Minneapolis location earlier this year, last week saw the opening of Anna Wienke’s Provision Community Restaurant at 2940 Harriet Ave S, where payment is optional.

After more than two years of preparations, Provision is open for dinner on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays and serves breakfast on Saturdays, operating on a pay-what-you-can model fashioned after One World Everybody Eats, an organization dedicated to propagating a restaurant model that uses community to fight hunger. “This is about creating a space for the community to come and get nourished, whether that be with healthy food or human interaction,” Wienke told Mpls./St. Paul Magazine. Weekday seatings are at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. with Saturday breakfast kicking off at 10 a.m.

The endeavor is funded mostly through donations, whether that be from generous patrons and community members or local co-ops and other restaurants like Good Acre and Rustica that send what they can’t use over to Provision. Bauhaus gave one dollar for every Schwandtoberfest beer to the endeavor to the tune of over $2,000 total.

Provision’s sustainability will require roughly 12 guests that pay at least $20 every day to make ends meet, so don’t be afraid to take up a seat—everything comes with a receipt for tax deductions and customers can pay with cash, check, or credit card.

• Now Open: Provision Community Restaurant [MSPMag]
• How do Pay-What-You-Want Restaurants Work? [E]