By Ron Tanner

When Atlantans want to shop like a chef, they go to Star Provisions, a chef-owned shop filled with fine foie gras, artisan cheese, succulent seafood, decadent desserts and tasteful tableware.

The creation of Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison, chef/owners of Atlanta’s acclaimed Bacchanalia Restaurant, Star Provisions was a logical outgrowth of the owners’ passion for providing fine food. As Quatrano says, “We sympathized with our customers’ inability to find black truffles or even good bread in Atlanta. So, we virtually opened our restaurant’s pantry and walk-in to our patrons.”

Housed in front of Bacchanalia restaurant, the 3,500-square-foot Star Provisions has been steadily attracting restaurant patrons and food-savvy Atlantans since opening in January 2000. With a bakery, wine cellar, meat and seafood department, cheese shop and hard goods section, the market serves a blend of consumer needs. Specialty Food Magazine estimates that Star Provisions does approximately $38,000 in weekly sales.

Bacchanalia’s Pantry
Graduates of the California Culinary Academy who had worked at restaurants in Nantucket and New York, Quatrano and Harrison moved to Georgia in 1992 to open a restaurant. The partners’ (in life, food and business) original Bacchanalia was located in Atlanta’s well-heeled Buckhead neighborhood.

The restaurant was, and is, a success, voted Atlanta’s number-one restaurant by Zagat for five straight years and the recipient of four stars from Mobil. In 1995, Food & Wine named Quatrano and Harrison among the top 10 new chefs in the U.S. In 2000 and 2001, the partners were nominated as chef of the year for their region by the James Beard Foundation. In 1999, Quatrano and Harrison decided they needed more space. They discovered a former meat-packing plant on Howell Mill Road in Atlanta’s Westside of Midtown area. Quatrano says, “Our imaginations went into overdrive. Clifford dreamed of a gleaming new kitchen, plenty of prep room, a huge walk-in and an elegant yet comfortable dining room, all on one floor. I pictured a store in which we could sell cheese, bread, meat, our pastries and interesting tableware.”

An Urban Food Market
Star Provisions sits in front of Bacchanalia. Restaurant patrons pass through the market to dine. Some shop on their way in to eat; others buy food on their way out. And there’s one food-crazy patron who shops between courses. Michael O’Connor, Star Provisions general manager, says, “She pops out after her appetizer to buy cheese, then will come out after her entrée to purchase seafood. We just hold all of her purchases at the front register until she’s ready.”

Each of the five peripheral departments is set up as a small side store opening onto the center of the market. The five periphery shops are Bakery, Wine, Meat and Fish, Cheese and the Cook’s Library; specialty foods and tableware anchor the store.

Each department is run and managed individually, although each is also an extension of the restaurant’s products and preparation skills. Quatrano says, “The selection in the store relates to what we sell in the restaurant, particularly in cheese, meat and seafood.” O’Connor adds, “Bacchanalia gets deliveries of meat, seafood and produce daily. The restaurant orders from Atlanta’s best purveyors who know that Anne and Clifford only want the best. That helps us get the finest for our retail market.”

Treasured Balsamics and Wax Lips
Star Provisions has a hip warehouse look. The center is filled with a vast selection of tableware and specialty foods that reflect the market’s upscale character. Valrhona chocolate, 100-year-old Balsamic vinegar and wax lips (yes, wax lips!) are among the specialty food offerings.

“Serious cooks can find anything they need here, both in equipment and ingredients,” says O’Connor. “But we also try to be fun, which is where our selection of penny candy fits in.”

The first perimeter department is bakery, which accounts for 12% of sales, about $4,560 weekly. The two service cases are filled with sweets, ranging from molasses cookies at 50 cents apiece, to a 9-inch sweet potato tart for $15 to a holiday Yule log for $45. Breads sell especially well, particularly baguettes, country French, foccacia and delicious fennel sultana bread. All cookies, pastries and breads are created in Bacchanalia’s kitchens.

General Manager O’Connor, a former Ritz Carlton pastry chef, explains, “The bakery demonstrates how the restaurant and store work together. In the early morning, Star Provisions employees use the ovens to create all the products we sell at retail. Then, during the day and evening, the restaurant’s pastry chefs use the space.”

Well-Edited Wine and Georgia Goat Cheese
The wine department features a well-edited selection of 120 wines, most in the $20 - $30 per bottle range. The recessed placement allows O’Connor to help his customers.

“Our level of service and knowledge of food and wine sets us apart,” he says. “Sometimes, I feel like a personal shopper. I help them select cheese, wine and the plates and glasses to serve it in.

“In wine, we have some high-end labels, but we see our role more as helping customers discover a delicious wine to complement the food they are serving. For instance, if somebody has purchased some nice seafood, I may guide them to try an Albarino from Spain, a wine they have probably never tasted.”

Although the restaurant’s wine cellar and the store’s selection differ, O’Connor always stocks the wines that are served by the glass in Bacchanalia, because customers will look for those after finishing a meal. With more than 200 cheeses, the cheese department is extraordinary, both in selection and presentation. Fresh and soft selections are merchandised from a service case while the harder cheeses are behind doored cases.

All cheeses are identified by region of production. Some of the more esoteric selections include Twin Oaks Brie from North Carolina ($24/pound) and Palhais from Portugal ($2 apiece). Organic milk, European butters, imported crackers and baked potato thins are cross-merchandised in the temperature- and humidity-controlled cheese room.

Quality food and knowledgeable employees are the secret behind the success of Star Provisions. It’s the same formula that has made Bacchanalia Atlanta’s finest restaurant.

Ron Tanner is editor of Specialty Food Magazine.