Provence Boulangerie

A French Café Has New Owners

LONG BEACH, Calif., March, 2006— Provence Boulangerie, the long-established, cozy café on Park Ave., has two new owners, Rayan Arinous and Omar Toma. They are excited about their new business venture and have some big plans for their little café.

The most important reason that attracted Arinous and Toma to buy the café was “the food,” Rayan said. “At first, we wanted something bigger, but our business advisor, Elizabeth Rebufat, of [BestSoCal], told us to try the food here and we loved it! A lot of our customers have told us that our food tastes very similar to the food they ate while vacationing in France.”

Provence Boulangerie offers a wide variety of gourmet sandwiches, homemade soups, salads, breakfast pasties, and coffees. All breads and fruits are delivered fresh daily from local vendors. Arinous recommends the most popular sandwich Croque Monsieur, which is made with ham, imported Swiss cheese broiled on a French baguette, served open face with sliced tomatoes, and seasoned with their own vinaigrette.

The new owners will focus on their service, but restassured, they will not compromise on the quality. “Getting the food out quickly will be one of our priorities.” said Arinous. They understand that people don’t want to wait a long time for meals to be prepared.

There are plans to get a beer and wine license in the near future and to start a wine club. “We want to offer our customers a local place to enjoy food and wine ,” Arinous said. When summer comes, a new dinner menu will be offered, special events will be held every night, and the hours will be extended until 6 p.m. or 8 p.m. People who want to join the wine club can write down their E-mail addresses on the restaurant membership book.

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