Ben Bebenroth has a unique view on business. Looking out his office window, he can see the growth potential for his enterprise. When he's at home, the view across his yard informs his product placement. Trips to a 1-acre plot in Wayne County help him plan ahead.
"This year, especially as the company's grown, I'm more of an owner," says Bebenroth, chef and founder of Spice of Life Catering Co. "We grow a lot of our own stuff now, via our raised beds behind the shop, and I have about 3,000 square feet of garden in my backyard, and Tom [Wiandt] from Killbuck Valley mushrooms is leasing us an acre that we're growing on down there, using tractors and discs and plows – the whole nine yards." Bebenroth's business is growing.
Launched in 2006, Spice of Life tapped into an expanding culinary circle of local food advocates and sustainability proponents. More a believer than a shrewd businessman, Bebenroth parlayed his passion for food and subsequent commitment to the finest, freshest, locally sourced products into a model of catering that had not previously been done in Northeast Ohio. He wanted to deliver great dishes, not great catered dishes. The food would not carry the catered caveat.
Starter Course
When Spice of Life started in 2006, Bebenroth wasn't growing anything for the business. He was relying exclusively on farmers and purveyors. His first Plated Landscape dinner at Killbuck Valley had seven guests. "I stacked the deck hard on that one," says Bebenroth. "Now, we have to turn people away."
With the help of his wife Jackie, event planner Jess Andjeski and chef Brandon Walukus, Bebenroth did 10 plated landscape dinners this year, including trips to Muddy Fork Farm in Wooster and Killbuck Valley Mushroom Farm in Burbank, with dinners scheduled at Heritage Lane Bison Farm in Salem on October 3 and at MacKenzie Creamery in Hiram on November 7. "The number of events isn't increasing, but the number who attend is." Two years ago, with the economy tanked, Bebenroth teamed up with Joan Rosenthal's Marigold Catering, overlapping on infrastructure and sharing the overhead. The two companies operate from a single Lakeside Avenue location. "I'm like their organic up-sell."
Bebenroth surveys his hoop houses from his shop window. He built them using salvaged patio doors and old electrical conduit, creating two hoop houses above raised beds. Last year, he harvested broccoli rabe, carrots and beets in January from his garden. This year, he's hoping to be pulling produce into February and planting arugula, tatsoi and bok choy during the first week in March. "Getting that jump on the season is crucial," says Bebenroth. This year, he grew more than 30 pounds of salad, "endless amounts of tomatoes, radishes, arugula, eggplant," among other things.
Bebenroth does a lot of field research, spending days visiting with farmers, and learning from them. "I think that starting with a relationship and understanding of the trials and tribulations of being in agriculture these days, having that respect and understanding of those people, carries over into the ingredients, which is the platform for all our food."
