Basil Tree Catering

Basil Tree Catering is a Cambridge drop-off caterer that has served corporations, hospitals and labs, schools and nonprofits across the Boston and Cambridge area for more than 30 years. Its mission is catering with a conscience: the menu emphasizes clean food with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free choices, local suppliers and Rainforest Alliance-certified coffee. Clients have praised the presentation and the vegan options, and one noted a driver who carried the order right to the correct room.

Owner Valerie Shulock had no formal culinary training; she studied biopsychology with a specialty in nutrition and behavior at Tufts and left a Brandeis master’s program to launch a business plan she wrote for a class. In 1987 she and friends Irene and Carlos Carvalho started Basil Tree in a shared Somerville kitchen, making pasta salads for cafes and markets before catering took over. The company is now based in the Fresh Pond area of Cambridge.

What to Know

• Basil Tree recycles and composts over 90 percent of its waste and will pick up used catering-ware to sanitize and reuse.
• It donates food worth roughly 10 percent of net profits each year to Boston and Cambridge charities and shelters.
• The business is certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise and an LGBT Business Enterprise, and as a Sustainable Business Leader.
• Standard delivery covers Boston, Cambridge, Medford, Somerville and Watertown on weekdays.
• Staff receive health and dental coverage and paid time off.