COMMUNITY PROFILE PEACE: THE KEY INGREDIENT BY FRANK DEANGELI IN JUNE OF 2024, the Denver VOICE found itself facing a grim reality — a pancake breakfast with no pancakes. Less than 24 hours before the VOICE’s Pancakes board members Against Poverty fundraiser, the coordinating the breakfast received notification that the company originally slated to cater the event was no longer able to do so. Urgent requests for next-day catering were sent to several area catering businesses, and within a few hours, David Bondarchuck — owner and founder of Scratch Catering Services — answered the call. “I just kind of feel like this email was intended for me — divine intervention, honestly,” Bondarchuck said about the email he received from VOICE staff. “It was time to step up.” Bondarchuck acknowledged that he’s been in no position to turn down any job after the COVID pandemic and its subsequent economic aftershocks, but his interest in helping the VOICE was deeper than that — he had experienced homelessness in Denver as a teen, so he understood the community the VOICE serves. When Bondarchuck was 15, he lived alone with his physically abusive father. After one particularly vicious incident involving gunshots and his father’s arrest, police dropped Bondarchuck off at the Gemini House — a youth shelter near Colfax Avenue and Simms Street. The Gemini House offered bus tokens to its guests, which Bondarchuck utilized to travel downtown every day to the Denver Public Library’s central branch. There, he found comfort in the cookbook section. “I didn’t know where to go in life. I didn’t know what was happening, and I missed my grandma. I know it sounds crazy, but [cookbooks] just reminded me of being with my grandma in the kitchen,” said Bondarchuck. After a stint at the youth shelter, Bondarchuck heard from an old friend, who reached out and offered him a place to stay for a reasonable price near Greeley. Before long, with money he made working at McDonald’s, Bondarchuck had moved into his own studio apartment. There, he finally had his own kitchen — a place to earnestly begin his exploration into the world of cooking. “I would cook for people at church, my neighbors, or people at school. I became known as the food guy. Scratch Catering Services was born literally out of that space.” This year marks 16 years that Scratch has officially been in business. It has grown from a one-man operation out of a Greeley studio apartment to a Denver-based team of professionals. Bondarchuck attributes his success, not to any intrinsic business acumen or intuition, but to his sustained passion for cooking over the years, coupled with the awareness that some are willing to pay for his creations. “Cooking brought me peace because I always felt like I wasn’t a failure. Getting to see what I’ve created every time — whether it was a success or not — brought me peace. Somebody asked me one time if I would make them some PHOTO: COURTESY OF DAVID BONDARCHUCK 6 DENVER VOICE September 2024
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