Innovator Stories
Charlemont is pretty far from New Orleans, but Wells Provisions fits right in.
Maybe you’ve already heard whispers of a new little-bit-of-everything paradise on Route 2, a restaurant, coffee bar, natural wine shop, and gourmet food purveyor. The menu is fresh, balanced, locally sourced, and spun through with New Orleans staples like gumbo, king cake (during Mardi Gras), and po’boy sandwiches. You can dine in, or take home a wide array of frozen delicacies, or just stop in for a coffee and a bottle of wine for later. In the summer, owners Wesley and Levi Janssen also open up an ice cream window.
Innovator Stories
Meet Levi & Wesley Janssen
Charlemont is pretty far from New Orleans, but Wells Provisions fits right in.
Maybe you’ve already heard whispers of a new little-bit-of-everything paradise on Route 2, a restaurant, coffee bar, natural wine shop and gourmet food purveyor. The menu is fresh, balanced, locally sourced, and spun through with New Orleans staples like gumbo, king cake (during Mardi Gras), and po’boy sandwiches. You can dine in, or take home a wide array of frozen delicacies, or just stop in for a coffee and a bottle of wine for later. In the summer, owners Wesley and Levi Janssen also open up an ice cream window.
“We wanted it to feel right in this area, but we also knew we had to make it a destination,” says Wesley Janssen, who grew up in nearby Northfield, Mass. She and Levi met in New Orleans, working in professional food industry positions (she in restaurant marketing, and he as operations manager for the Dickie Brennan restaurant group, a fixture in Creole dining).
During the pandemic, searching for solid ground as New Orleans’ tourism economy faltered, the Janssens stumbled upon a listing for their current building, an 1869 storefront space tucked into Charlemont’s very small town center. Wesley had been taking the three Janssen kids to Massachusetts for a month each summer, and the opportunity to put down more permanent roots while also building their own concept store was irresistible.
Now, Wells Provisions, named for that original 1869 general store, caters to tourists and locals alike, creating a “third place” where the town’s farmers, residents, and visitors commune for that little bit of everything. The Janssens also operate two Airbnb suites above the restaurant for weary travelers.
Wesley and Levi are serious about their sourcing, working directly with local farmers and Marty’s Local, a Lever-funded delivery company that partners with hundreds of local food producers. All the collards in the restaurant’s signature collard melt, a triple-decker vegetarian sandwich that’s the stuff of dreams, are grown down the road at Good Bunch Farm. Wesley can tell you the backstory of everything you bring to the register. “We learned in the restaurant industry that you should know what you’re selling, and you should always be learning,” she said.
Wesley says she knows about half of her customers at this point–she’s meeting people who just moved to the area, or who have been here for years, or who have driven from Boston to get some gumbo and thinking maybe, just maybe, Charlemont might be a nice place to live someday.
The value of Wells Provisions’ “third space” in a time of separation—for the Janssens, for their community, for the people visiting Charlemont to ski and tube the Deerfield River—is incredibly salient today. As lifestyles change and people migrate to rural communities thanks to the flexibility of remote work, Wells Provisions is innovating a restaurant concept for that new world, untethered from city centers and grinding commutes, vested in expertise, tradition, and a true love of food. “We have an unwavering commitment to doing things the right way,” said Wesley. “Fine dining is a complete experience, and if one thing is off, it’s only a so-so experience. That’s our golden thread.”
“We wanted it to feel right in this area, but we also knew we had to make it a destination,” says Wesley Janssen, who grew up in nearby Northfield, Mass. She and Levi met in New Orleans, working in professional food industry positions (she in restaurant marketing, he as operations manager for the Dickie Brennan restaurant group, a fixture in Creole dining).
During the pandemic, searching for solid ground as New Orleans’ tourism economy faltered, the Janssens stumbled upon a listing for their current building, an 1869 storefront space tucked into Charlemont’s very small town center. Wesley had been taking the three Janssen kids to Massachusetts for a month each summer, and the opportunity to put down more permanent roots while also building their own concept store was irresistible.
Now, Wells Provisions, named for that original 1869 general store, caters to tourists and locals alike, creating a “third place” where the town’s farmers, residents, and visitors commune for that little bit of everything. The Janssens also operate two Airbnb suites above the restaurant for weary travelers.
Wesley and Levi are serious about their sourcing, working directly with local farmers and Marty’s Local, a Lever-funded delivery company that partners with hundreds of local food producers. All the collards in the restaurant’s signature collard melt, a triple-decker vegetarian sandwich that’s the stuff of dreams, are grown down the road at Good Bunch Farm. Wesley can tell you the backstory of everything you bring to the register. “We learned in the restaurant industry that you should know what you’re selling, and you should always be learning,” she said.
Wesley says she knows about half of her customers at this point–she’s meeting people who just moved to the area, or who have been here for years, or who have driven from Boston to get some gumbo and thinking maybe, just maybe, Charlemont might be a nice place to live someday.
The value of Wells Provisions’ “third space” in a time of separation—for the Janssens, for their community, for the people visiting Charlemont to ski and tube the Deerfield River—is incredibly salient today. As lifestyles change and people migrate to rural communities thanks to the flexibility of remote work, Wells Provisions is innovating a restaurant concept for that new world, untethered from city centers and grinding commutes, vested in expertise, tradition, and a true love of food. “We have an unwavering commitment to doing things the right way,” said Wesley. “Fine dining is a complete experience, and if one thing is off, it’s only a so-so experience. That’s our golden thread.”