Before opening Provisions MQT in spring 2022, Jesse Renfors didn't think Marquette needed another coffee shop.
Luckily for the community, he has shown over the past year that Provisions MQT is much more than just a coffee shop. It’s a place to collaborate, meet and “enjoy the small moments in our lives,” as the company's website states, and more.
“They don’t just sell coffee,” said Christopher Germain, CEO of Lake Superior Community Partnership, Marquette County’s economic development organization. “They also have brought gelato to the community for the first time. They do cooking classes. They have yoga there occasionally. It’s an incredible space they’ve built around this community in a part of the city that’s very new compared to the rest of (Marquette).”
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Jesse Renfors opened Provisions MQT after returning to Marquette from the West.
Provisions MQT isn’t Renfors’s first foray into the coffee business; he operated multiple locations, a roastery and a mobile unit as Cody Coffee Roaster in Cody, Wyoming,
before selling that venture shortly before the pandemic.
“(I) came back to Marquette because this is home for both my wife and I. Coming back here, (we) found the space, fell in love with it and didn’t think Marquette needed another coffee shop but here we are now and we just had the place absolutely filled up about an hour ago,” he said.
The shop is about 2,500 square feet, with a 500-square-foot patio.
“We’re based right at the lower harbor, right on Lake Superior,” he said. “We are a kitchen store, gelato shop and coffee shop. I roast the coffee myself, I do it offsite in … a mobile coffee roaster.”
That location makes Provisions MQT one of the first businesses to open in the Founder’s Landing development – Marquette’s effort to redevelop brownfield sites along the city’s waterfront that are remnants of the city’s more industrial past, Germain said.
“Provisions is certainly a unique business for a couple of reasons … first and foremost, it’s one of the first businesses to go into the new Founder’s Landing development, which has mostly been housing up to this stage,” Germain said. “Provisions coming into there has created this incredible community gathering space, and I think that’s what Jesse and his team are really good at.”
Whether it’s the location, the business model or a combination of both, Renfors said Provisions’ first year has been outstanding.
“The support we get from our community is unreal, we did a lot of events through the winter – we did cooking classes and stuff like that, and really got the deep buy-in from the locals,” he said.
“It’s an owner-run shop, so I am there five days a week and the staff we’ve got has pretty much been there since day one. So we focus on customer service, taking care of our (local) people, and now we’re hitting tourist season and so now let the gelato fly,” he continued, although he joked the gelato remained a popular item in the colder months as well.
“You’d be surprised, with our holiday flavors, how much gelato this little shop can sell in December.”
Originally from nearby Negaunee, Renfors moved back to Marquette after living in various places out west as he chased his Olympic dream as a luge competitor.
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Growing up in the grocery business, Renfors said he moved into the restaurant business at the age of 17 or 18, cutting his teeth in Park City, Utah, and ultimately becoming the director of operations for a restaurant group there.
“We did everything from cafes to fine dining, there we had over 800 employees in the wintertime when we were in peak season,” he said.
Renfors switched over to coffee when he started his family and wanted a better work schedule.
“We kind of dove into coffee and we’ve been in coffee ever since. The hours are a little bit more conducive to a family lifestyle,” said Renfors, who largely taught himself the coffee business.
Having lived in outdoor destinations around the country, Renfors said the Upper Peninsula’s recreational opportunities are a large part of what drew him home.
“Here in Marquette, the trail system we have, the beach frontage we have, the proximity to the outdoors is unmatched anywhere,” he said.
“Every trailhead you went to (in other places he’s lived), you’d be met with 100-200 cars. Here in Marquette, we can go get lost on the trails by ourselves really fast,” he said. “We also love the village mentality. Raising a couple of boys takes a village so it’s nice to have that small-town feel and still have all the amenities that we really need.”
Provisions MQT has expanded its hours for the summer and fall, open from 8 a.m., to 10 p.m., seven days a week.
“We’ll shift back down come fall after the color tours dissipate a little bit and we’ll go back to those evening classes and stuff like that,” Renfors said, adding the reduced hours in winter will bring more classes and other offerings.
For more information on Provisions MQT, visit
provisionsmqt.com or the store’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
A former reporter at the Ironwood Daily Globe, Richard Jenkins moved to Ironwood in 2015. He was born and raised in Metro Detroit. He may not have been born in the Upper Peninsula but got here as soon as he could.