BirchTree’s foundations were laid when Fecteau started selling his bread out of the back of wife Avra Hoffman’s Subaru, and then moving onto farmers’ markets. In BirchTree’s third year of operation in the Crompton Building in Worcester’s Canal District, the restaurant serves 4,000 guests per week with 30 employees. The firm grew from $800,000 in revenues the first year at Crompton to $1.8 million this year.
Facteau continues to hone his craft as a baker and evolves BirchTree’s business model, contributing to the growing Worcester community and supporting local farmers and small businesses.
What person do you look up to? My older brother, Raymond Fecteau, who is very level-headed and makes decisions in a thoughtful way.
What will colleagues say at your funeral? I was a good guy, I contributed to society, and I lived my dream.
What one Central Mass. spot should everyone visit? Quabbin Reservoir
What actor would play you in the movie about your life? Seth Rogan
Meet the other 40 Under Forty winners for 2017
Asmar N. Akman – Akman Enterprises Inc.
Brendan Aylward – Unified Health and Performance
Greta Bajrami Campoverde – Golden Group Construction Corp.
Kathryn Behan – UMass Memorial Healthcare
Heather Belair – Bay State Savings Bank
Neil Callahan – R.H. White Construction
Michelle L. Cote, Esq. – Law Offices of Richard S. Ravosa
Julianne Dahrooge – Chan & Dahrooge Financial Group, LLC
Patrick J. DiGregorio – Veterans Inc.
Courtney Ross Escobar – Doucette & LaRose, LLC
Hilary Gardner – The Davis Cos.
Ashleigh C. Gelinas, Esq. – Gelinas & Ward, LLP
Avra Hoffman – BirchTree Bread Co.
Maryann C. Johnson – Oak Hill CDC
Kevin G. Johnson – O’Connor, Maloney & Company, P.C.
Heather Mangione – United Way of Central Massachusetts
Jay Merrill – Clifford & Rano Associates
Meghan E. Montaner – The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts
Edward Murphy – Baystate Investment Fund
Joy Rachelle Murrieta – Main IDEA
Dr. Milka Njoroge, PharmD – Century Homecare, LLC
Andrew B. Palumbo – Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Kevin Peterssen – United Bank
John T. Pitcavage – Endless Energy
Julia Randall, M.D. – Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center
Keith Reardon – Commonwealth Consulting Group, LLC
Giselle Rivera-Flores – The Learning Hub & IgWorcesterMA
Jamie Salois – Atlas Distributing
Lindiana Semidei – Raices Latin Dance
Jody Staruk – Consigli Construction Co., Inc.
Francisco Torres – Town of Westborough
Abel Travis – Hanover Insurance Group
Elizabeth Tripp – Hanover Insurance Group
Alexis G. Vallejos – Columbia Tech
David Viens – Bowditch & Dewey, LLP