by Cierra Lannon

For 34 years, Pasta & Provisions has been a destination for Charlotte foodies looking for imported pasta, specialty cheeses, fine wines, and hard-to-find ingredients. But its role in Charlotte’s culinary community has grown far beyond the products it sells.

The business, which opened its first location on Providence Road in 1992, has also served as a training ground for people who would go on to shape Charlotte’s restaurant, wine, and hospitality scene.

Three of those alumni, Amy Fortes, Joshua Villapando, and Katie Whipple, now hold leadership roles in Charlotte’s culinary scene. Their careers took different paths, but all credit their time at Pasta & Provisions and the mentorship of Tommy and Debbie George with helping shape who they are today, inspiring admiration for the business’s influence.

For Fortes, owner of The Flipside Restaurant Group, the connection began after she moved from Western New York to Charlotte in 2006 to attend Johnson & Wales University. She met Tommy and Debbie, their sons, and what she remembers as the entire Pasta & Provisions family. At the time, Villapando was the general manager.

Pasta & Provisions allowed her to learn by doing – and to be creative. Employees were encouraged to contribute ideas and develop recipes. “They let us come up with recipes,” Fortes says. One result was the picante bean hummus, which she helped create and is still available today.

The education extended far beyond recipes. Fortes learned about local beer, wine, catering, and the details of working with specialty products. She also learned how to slice prosciutto properly. “You needed to be able to read the Sunday comics through your prosciutto,” she says. “It needed to be that thin.”

Those seemingly small lessons became part of a larger education in hospitality and organization. “They taught me how to prep for a party of 100 and how to order for it; how to be organized,” Fortes says. “They taught us so much about wine. I learned a lot from them.”

Today, Fortes and her husband Jon oversee The Flipside Restaurant Group, which includes Salmeri’s Italian Kitchen, FM Eatery, Soot and Cinder, Flipside Cafe and Restaurant, and Sip & Cinder. She says the creative culture she experienced at Pasta & Provisions still resonates, making her feel connected to a community that values innovation and artistry in food.

“They’re creatives, you know, and a lot of their staff are creative too,” she says.

Villapando’s experience at Pasta & Provisions lasted a decade, from 1999 to 2009, and became the foundation of his career in culinary and fine wine. After transitioning from teaching elementary school into the food industry, he eventually became the store’s general manager. During his tenure, he witnessed Charlotte’s restaurant scene grow. Looking back, he sees his years at Pasta & Provisions as pivotal.

“I honestly wouldn’t have any relevance in the culinary or wine scene in Charlotte had it not been for my time there,” Villapando says.

Much of that experience came through the Georges. “They really took me under their wing,” he says. “Every day of those 10 years. There was a lot of coaching, a lot of advice, and a lot of, kind of, pushing me out of the nest too.”

That mentorship also helped Villapando understand the importance of developing people. While managing the store, he trained and hired employees, many of whom remain part of his professional network. “I would train and hire prospective employees, many of whom I still work with today, many of whom I’m still friends with today,” he says.

Eventually, Villapando was encouraged to take another step: opening his own business. While managing the wine program at Common Market in Plaza Midwood, he was approached about becoming an entrepreneur at The Market at 7th Street, then 7th Street Public Market. “I basically got dared into starting my own retail wine shop and wine bar,” he said. That dare became Assorted Table Wine + Shop, where his culinary and wine background still influences Charlotte’s food community.

Whipple, now director of operations at City Kitch, also entered Pasta & Provisions as a Johnson & Wales culinary student. Tommy George interviewed her and offered her a position on the spot. “It was Tommy taking a chance on a culinary student and being willing to give me a shot with my first job in Charlotte,” Whipple says.

She worked in both the kitchen and deli, but especially loved learning about specialty ingredients. “I genuinely loved working in the deli,” she says. “It was a lot of fun.” At the time, she said, Pasta & Provisions offered a unique opportunity to learn about imported Italian products. “There wasn’t anywhere else in the city where you could learn that kind of stuff, especially about Italian products that were imported like that,” Whipple says.

More important, however, was the philosophy behind the work.

“It was really ingrained in me that the whole reason we were there was to provide a good product to people to make their lives better and easier,” she says.

That same philosophy was evident in the Georges’ approach to customers. “Seeing him watch someone get excited about a new product was really cool,” Whipple says.

In their 34 years, Pasta & Provisions has opened two additional locations on Park Road and Mint Street and hired hundreds of staff members. For three former employees now helping lead Charlotte’s culinary culture, the memories of Pasta & Provisions remain deeply personal, fostering a sense of pride and belonging in the community.

“It was awesome, it was instant family,” Fortes says.

“It was the best 10 years of my life,” Villapando says.

Whipple remembers the simple philosophy that originally inspired the Georges: “They just wanted to provide people with good products.”

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