CLM Fall 2018

THE FORWARD
This story starts by looking back.
Circa 1984, Boston, Mass. A young, single Tommy George is looking for work
to help pay expenses while he is in school studying Spanish at UMass-Boston.
He takes a job with a company called Al Capone Cheese Co., selling wholesale
cut-to-order cheeses.
Tommy’s education took him to Spain on an exchange program, so the job was
part time at first. It was in Boston, that Tommy met his wife to be, Debbie. The
couple got engaged in Spain and then found themselves back in Massachusetts.
Soon the couple was married and before too much longer, little ones followed –
three boys to be exact. In what seemed like no time, the couple had become a
family of five.
Tommy needed to take care of his growing family and so went back to work
for Capone, but now he was not only selling cheese, but fresh made pasta as well.
Back in the day fresh made pasta was a rare commodity and Tommy sold high
quality product to all the big names in the culinary industry. Because
he was great at what he did and processed an
uncanny attention to detail and
Tommy, Debbie and Michael
George, happy to be outside
the first ever Pasta &
Provisions in Charlotte NC
CHAPTER 1 – PROVIDENCE ROAD
When Tommy & Debbie George make a decision to roll, things happen
fast. With three young boys – Max, 4 years old; Dylan, 3 years old and
Simon, 3 months – they flew down to Charlotte for a week to secure a
small business loan and find a location for a shop all their own. At first
they thought they would continue with the wholesale format to
which they had been accustomed.
But when they found the small shotgun space in the Myers Park
neighborhood on Providence Road, the concept changed gears and
went from wholesale to retail.
The couple moved back to Charlotte in the late summer of 1992,
signed the loan papers and the shop’s lease all in the same day.
offered excellent customer
service, he was invited to big dinners at all
the up and coming places and became a bit of a celebrity in New
England culinary circles. Life was good but work was intense.
The George’s and their young family were in a city with no
extended family support. Tommy feared becoming a workaholic,
spending his time and energy building a business for
someone else and didn’t want that kind of life for himself or
his family.
Encouraged by Tommy’s brother Michael, Debbie and Tommy
decided to take the leap of faith, write a business plan and open
a shop of their own, back home in Charlotte, NC.