Sebastopol is a town known for its idyllic landscapes, delicious organic food and forward-thinking businesses, and Wylde Provisions Co. embodies all three. Open since May 1, the business has found traction among locals in a few short months, as both the Wylde Provisions Cafe and Playground and a commissary, providing high-quality, delicious, protein-forward grab-and-go meals to fuel the fitness-minded
Co-owner Urban Anderson, a firefighter and paramedic by trade and a resident of West County for nine years, first formulated the idea for the business shortly after opening The Barn Fitness Collective in Sebastopol with his wife, Zoe, in August 2023. Unable to find the fresh, high-quality, high-protein food he craved, he began formulating his own recipes and eventually ran a business idea by an acquaintance.
The acquaintance, Andrew Truong, who, with his wife, co-owns and co-head-chefs Terrapin Creek in Bodega Bay, came back with a proposition: a 50/50 split. He offered to run the enterprise’s kitchen while Urban took care of business development. The two shook hands on the idea and soon settled on a plan to set up shop at the brand-new window-order cafe at 500 Robinson Road on the grounds of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, a scant block from Bodega Avenue. The church built the cafe the year before and was looking for a new tenant. In May, the duo launched the business, offering a healthy and reasonably priced cafe menu that includes breakfast items, including a burrito, delectable flapjacks and a yogurt parfait; a rotating selection of grab-and-go lunch and dinner bowls; kids’ eats; snacks; and alcoholic and NA beers, ciders, wines and coffee drinks.
Per the company website, the business was created with “the desire to make healthy, flavorful, high-protein meals that don’t break the bank.” But its larger mission also fit almost seamlessly with Rev. Christy Laborda Harris’ broader, community-wide vision for St. Stephen’s, which is now home to a worship community, Mini Music Time, the Community Seed Exchange, Wylde Provisions Cafe and Playground, the Inter-Church Food Pantry and several 12-step and other support groups.
“St. Stephen’s began dreaming about creating a playground cafe in 2017— a place where children, parents, and folks of all generations might come together to play, be nourished, build community, engage in deep conversation and journey together,” Harris said in a recent email exchange. “Wylde Provisions Cafe fits with our wider vision of bringing together various communities on our land and creating a space where those communities and the individuals that compose them might connect with each other and strengthen the weave of the fabric of our community.”
The first thing one notices upon arriving at the window-order cafe is the tranquility and beauty of the setting. The cafe is oriented away from the parking lot, its Waldorf-inspired playground and seating areas nestled between the Community Seed Exchange garden, the Church’s dome-like Outdoor Sacred Space and a bucolic community foot path. Ten or so umbrella-covered picnic and standing tables extend from beneath a mature oak tree across a pleasant, tanbark expanse that includes a sandbox, a log climb and tree net, a slide, a tunnel and two small hills. It’s a children’s paradise that’s comfortable for adults, too.
“The whole playground area here is fenced,” Anderson said. “And we designed it so most of the seating is at the entrance where the parking lot is so that parents can be there to make sure kids aren’t running in. And then we set up all of these umbrella stations so that parents can be closer and have a shaded spot with their drinks or their food and still be watching their kids.”
And while the cafe caters to families, Anderson makes it clear that, “This is a community gathering space for anybody and everybody.”
No industrial seed oils are used in the preparation of any of Wylde Provisions’ food. Instead, they use avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil. In addition, all the produce is sourced from Andy’s, and all the protein sources — ground turkey, organic ground beef, organic chicken breasts and wild codfish — are always organic. Tofu and gluten-free options are also available, and Retrograde Coffee Roasters supplies the coffee.
Last Sunday afternoon, four members of the Analy High Tennis team sat at a table selling baked goods to raise money to buy uniforms for The Tigers. Elsewhere, a dozen or so adults sat around the playground, drinking and talking while their kids played. Alex Telander, of Cotati, was there with his partner and their toddler, attending a group meetup for parents with kids in the same TK class.
“We really love [this place],” Telander said. “I was surprised at how big it was. We’d heard about it before, and I have a 4-year-old who wanted to come up here. He’s having a great time. The kids are having fun together.”
With the cafe operating smoothly from Thursday through Monday, and its commissary kitchen operating at scale with a full crew six days a week, Anderson has stepped the business up a notch. A new initiative to offer family and corporate subscriptions for weekly food deliveries is in full swing.
“The real goal is to try to bring this level of food to a larger audience,” Anderson said. “The mission is to find food deserts and put these smart fridges in. It’s like, how do we make this level of quality food accessible to so many more people at an accessible price point?”
Wylde Provisions now sells grab-and-go bowls out of AI-operated smart refrigerators at The Barn Fitness Collective and at Somofit in Rohnert Park, and is actively seeking partner businesses to host its refrigerators. The idea is to grow a network of pickup locations across Sonoma County.
“The five-year goal would be to have our family and corporate subscriptions really booming, having a delivery service and then having a network of these kiosks. Our No. 1 mission, though, is to just keep it actually local,” Anderson said. “So many of these food-prep companies, they grow to a size where their food is getting shipped in these long-haul trucks, and it takes three days to get to the airport that it serves. But the quality dies down.
“I just feel super grateful for this opportunity, and for all the help from everyone within our community,” he added. “There’s been a huge level of support, and none of this would really be possible without it. I’m new to the entrepreneur game and have had so much support from West County.”
For more information, visit www.wyldeprovisions.com. The Cafe Hours are Thursday, 10 am to 2 pm; Friday & Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm; Sunday, 11 am to 6 pm; Monday, 10 am to 2 pm.
Love this! We're going next week. Gotta taste for ourselves. Thank you 👍
Great write up for a magical spot in the hood! One of my favorite hang outs...