BirchTree Bread purchase partially funded by $125K North County loan
PHOTO | COURTESY OF NORTH CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS DEVELOPMENT CORP.
At the ceremonial big check award for BirchTree Bread’s purchase are (from left) James Ciociolo of TD Bank; Sandie Cataldo, senior economic development manager at the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce; Anthony Pasquale of TD Bank; Nate Rossi and Alexis Kelleher, owners of Crust and Birchtree Bread Co.; Norm Vigeant, vice president of lending at the North Central Massachusetts Development Corp.; and Cheryl Miller of the small business development center at Clark University.
The North Central Massachusetts Development Corp. provided a $125,000 loan to help the owners of Crust Bakeshop fund the purchase of BirchTree Bread Co., as part of a larger financing package from TD Bank of New Jersey.
Alexis Kelleher and Nathan Rossi, the owners of Crust, announced the purchase of BirchTree in April, after the Worcester License Commission approved the transfer of BirchTree’s liquor license from its previous owners, Avra Hoffman and Robert Fecteau.
The purchase of the Green Street restaurant gives Crust a much-needed commercial kitchen facility. Kelleher took over ownership of Crust in 2017 from Alec Lopez and Sherri Sadowski, owners of Armsby Abbey. She was the bakery’s manager and lead baker before becoming its owner.
The BirchTree location gives Kelleher and Rossi three locations in the city. Crust’s initial location opened in 2016 on Main Street in Worcester, and they opened a second outpost in 2020 on West Boylston Street in Worcester at a former Starbucks.
The NCMDC loan gives Kelleher and Rossi the money to keep the 22 full-time and 35 part-time employees while making the purchase, according to the Tuesday announcement from NCMDC.
“We have experienced tremendous growth over the past six years and after looking for a large, commercial kitchen we learned Birchtree Bread Company was for sale,” Kelleher said in the announcement. “This was the perfect opportunity for us to expand our business and continue providing the dedicated customers at Birchtree the food and beverages they’ve come to love over the years. We are grateful to the Small Business Development Corporation, the North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation and to TD Bank for helping us achieve our goals.”
NCMDC is the nonprofit economic development arm of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce and provides loans to small businesses, as a partner of the U.S. Small Business Association.
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