BIRCHTREE CATERING

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Behind the delectable cuisine is a small, woman-owned company started by Allegra Derengowski and Rasa Stirbys Benefico, two friends who met as waitresses and began their successful catering company in 2008. With little resources and knowledge in entrepreneurship or catering, Allegra and Rasa built Birchtree Catering, LLC by using rental kitchens, hosting tastings in their homes from 2008-2012, and growing relationships with vendors and farmers.
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“We built our company using a creative routine for events that involved U-Hauls, a South Philly storage space, our basements, and the Kensington Kitchen at Greensgrow Farm,” said owner Allegra Derengowski. Birchtree Catering became a large-scale catering company in 2012. Today their commissary kitchen is located inside Globe Dye Works (a PIDC client) in Frankford, Philadelphia, where they were able to build out a kitchen space big enough for their business to grow within it.

Birchtree Catering has made it a primary mission to maintain a sustainable business and give back to the community through local sourcing, composting, employee wellness, and economic stability. Allegra believes that small businesses sustain the economy, and she would like to see City government have a stronger focus on helping small businesses survive and excel. As long-standing members of the Sustainable Business Network, Allegra and Rasa are highly focused on sustainability and supporting the community while providing superior customer satisfaction. “Catering is a lovely business because you’re able to celebrate some of the most important days with clients, and we want them to know that every dollar they are spending is going towards good,” said Allegra.

“When an entity like PIDC is introduced into our lives, the financial and mental boost that comes with that kind of big win has long-lasting effects that make it possible to get through the next hurdle, and the next, and the next.” -Allegra Derengowski

As the business grew, they sought out ways to grow their business knowledge by participating in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program — an initiative to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity by providing access to education, capital and business support services. Through the program, Allegra was introduced to PIDC’s business lending. “PIDC could loan money for debt refinancing and working capital, of which we needed both,” she said. “We were able to pay off a high-interest loan and make some much-needed purchases for our growth, all at an interest rate that was far better than any we had received previously from banks.”

Since receiving a loan from PIDC in 2016, Birchtree Catering has been able to grow their top line revenue every year, secure a few exclusive catering contracts and venues, and pursue new opportunities in corporate and institutional catering. “PIDC loans have made it possible to alleviate some of our seasonal cash flow issues, and have taken a lot of the panic out of our daily operations so that we can focus on growing smartly,” said Allegra.

Birchtree Catering’s unique business mission and hard work over the years, has gained tremendous recognition. Their team won “Best of Philly” for Party Food in 2015, was listed in Philadelphia’s Good Food Caterers Guide, and their food quality standards have been recognized by Grid Magazine, the Sustainable Business Network of Philadelphia, The Chamber of Commerce, The Knot, and Philadelphia Wedding.

“As a small company that is female-owned, in which neither owner has a business background, it is hard in more ways than we even understand to run our company,” said Allegra. “When an entity like PIDC is introduced into our lives, the financial and mental boost that comes with that kind of big win has long-lasting effects that make it possible to get through the next hurdle, and the next, and the next.”
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