Local Business highlight:Provender Kitchen + Bar
Daron Goldstein of Provender Kitchen + Bar. Photo: Heart of Ellsworth
Now in its eighth year, Provender Kitchen + Bar is an established business on Main Street in downtown Ellsworth. Owned by Chef Daron Goldstein and his wife Joy Kempf, the restaurant is a go-to for meals and cocktails drawing residents and new visitors alike.
Heart of Ellsworth staff sat down with Goldstein to learn about the origins of Provender, advice for entrepreneurs, and keeping a local and seasonal menu exciting for customers to consistently enjoy. Chef Goldstein inspired us as he shared his stories around menu-creation and his commitment to creating a diverse and tasty menu, as well as his commitment to his staff and our local community.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Heart of Ellsworth: Tell us about the origin of Provender?
Goldstein: The business presented itself to us at the right time. The old owner of the restaurant asked us if we wanted to buy it. At first, we had a lot going on. We had just bought a house, the kids were just starting school and I told him no. Then two months later he asked me one more time… So, I went home and talked to Joy about this opportunity. It was something we always talked about doing. We’ve both been in the hospitality and restaurant industry our whole lives. We said let’s do it and took a leap of faith.
H: What were some of the initial challenges?
G: We knew we had the knowledge and experience to do it, but we didn’t know everything about running a business at the time. We learned on the go — that was 2017. Between the time we bought the restaurant and the time we opened, we quickly renovated, cleaned, all these things to get the place back in shape. It was a bistro, so we didn’t buy all new kitchen equipment. We bought a few things at first, but we couldn’t do everything at once — we had to make do with what we had.
H: Why did you choose to open a business in downtown Ellsworth?
G: I come from a small town in Massachusetts and kind of a touristy area as well, so it feels like home. Ellsworth is a small community - everybody kind of knows everybody a little bit which I’m very used to. And everything was community driven. We gave back right away when we opened. Our first fundraiser was for the Hancock SPCA even though we hadn’t made any money yet ourselves.
I knew I wanted to be a part of the community; I didn’t just want to exist here. We wanted to be part of everything that was going on, and we were so easily welcomed into the community… we started getting to know people right away on a first name basis. It just seemed right.
Provender Kitchen + Bar. Photo: Heart of Ellsworth
We were here for a short amount of time before we opened Provender, but we instantly felt that we could be here, raise a family here, and enjoy life. The schools were right here, the business presented itself to us, and there was no reason to go anywhere else.
H: What’s some advice you have for someone wanting to start a business in Ellsworth?
G: Identify what you are good at, identify what is your competitive advantage, focus on those things and build on them.
If you’re starting a business, make sure you’re working on your business, not for your business. I can’t grow the business by being back in the kitchen cooking steak 12 hours a day. I have to be doing other things. For that to happen, I have to hire great people, people we trust and that care about the business.
I used to be stubborn, and I had to do everything, but you can get stuck in a rut or flat line a bit. If you’re not growing, you’re dying. That was a challenge for me, to step back. . . but it’s letting other people grow their careers, and giving someone else an opportunity to be a chef and run a kitchen under my guidance. Everyone on our staff has been with us for 3-4 years; there are many faces people know at Provender.
H: How do you see Provender changing and growing?
G: Cooking is trendy like fashion. My cuisine and my plating has changed from the time that we opened. It’s evolved into stuff that’s more relevant now. Five years ago, I was putting a hundred things on the plate decorated with little dots, stuff like that. I realized I don’t have to do that.
One of the visions was I wanted it to be a place where anybody could come eat. You can have someone eating a nice steak at one end of the dining room and someone else eating a burger or chicken sandwich on the other end.
I’m doing a lot of things knowing who our clientele is during on and off seasons. In the summer, we’re a little more out of the box. I’m not stuck on one thing anymore — we’re global cuisine knowledgeable here. I’m willing to cook anything that’s great and anyone can come in here and get something.
H: Can you talk about your creative process?
G: Inspiration can come from anywhere. I’m my own research and development team. I’m constantly seeing what my friends are doing in NY or California. I have over a hundred cookbooks at home, I don’t pretend I know everything. And because I’ve been doing it for so long, working with so many different products, I’m able to be creative enough to do something and put a Provender twist on it. Start with a great product, end with a great product. Not everything makes the menu, there’s a lot of trial and error. You may see a lot of good stuff on our social media, but that doesn’t mean we got it right the first time.
“When it finally does make the menu, it has to be great. It has to be great, or we don’t do it.”
We like to think we have a finger on the pulse of the industry, we’re always coming up with new stuff. I get bored easily. If I’m over a dish, we change it. If it’s not selling, we change it.
We cook seasonal and with what’s fresh. Everyone knows [a dish] is there for a time, but not a long time. They come back in later and if it’s not on the menu, they find something else. I think our guests love that. We have some people that come in here three or four days a week and they find something new just about every time. It’s fun that way, and keeps me and my cooks engaged, coming up with new stuff and learning new techniques. The process is constantly researching and trying different things, and not being afraid to fail. I love to go out to eat myself - love to see what other people are doing.
It takes a village and we have great staff. We couldn’t do it without them. They care about Provender and that makes things easier for us. I like to think we’re providing a workplace where people want to be.
H: What is your favorite part of running this business?
G: Seeing people leave happy, that’s the goal. To see the end result of what we’re doing, people leaving happier than when they came in–it doesn’t get better than that.
Provender Kitchen + Bar is located at 112 Main St. in downtown Ellsworth.
To find more information and view the current menu (it changes weekly!) visit https://www.eatprovender.com/.