Elmsford ‘Raw Rev’ snack bar business seeks bankruptcy protection

BY BILL HELTZEL Bheltzel@westfairinc.com

An Elmsford wholesaler of protein bars is seeking bankruptcy protection, citing partnership conflicts both corporate and marital.

Raw Indulgence Ltd. filed a Chapter 11 reorganization petition on May 8 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, White Plains, declaring $708,413 in assets and nearly $3.9 million in liabilities.

During divorce proceedings with her ex-husband and business partner, CEO Alice Benedetto stated in a court filing, “little to no sales activity occurred, which caused the debtor to lose considerable market share.”

“Additionally, three to four new competitors were able to enter the market in a category that the debtor once thrived in and pioneered.”

Last year, the company booked income of $5,432,725, according to the petition. Through early May it had booked $1,477,591.

Raw Indulgence was founded in 2004 to sell snacks created by Benedetto. Initially, according to court records, it made brownies with fruits, nuts, seeds and maple syrup and sold them to health food stores. As the snacks became more popular, they were sold in stores like Wegmans and Whole Foods. Then Benedetto created a vegan protein bar that was sold by independent chain stores, Amazon and on its own website.

But as her marriage foundered, so did the business.

Benedetto and her husband had been able to work together and make business decisions, according to a 2021 lawsuit she filed seeking to dissolve the corporation. But after he filed for divorce in 2017 they were unable to agree on critical business decisions.

In 2019, a consultant was appointed to help resolve their stalemate, but still, according to the 2021 lawsuit, they “remained at constant impasse on all the necessary decisions relating to the future of Raw’s business.”

In 2020 they worked out a settlement requiring her husband to buy Benedetto’s half of Raw Indulgence for $3.95 million. That deal fell through and eventually she retained control of the business.

Raw turned to the merchant cash advance (MCA) market, alternative lenders that quickly provide short-term loans but typically charge steep interest rates and fees.

The company developed a sales plan to generate more monthly income to cover the payments, according to Benedetto. “Unfortunately, the cash flow was not sufficient to pay all of these MCAs,” so Raw petitioned for reorganization.

The list of unsecured creditors includes six MCA lenders with claims totaling $683,783. Each claim is characterized as disputed.

Raw also shows a $2 million obligation to the U.S. Small Business Administration for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan.

The company intends to use the bankruptcy process to restructure its debt and resolve various claims with vendors and lenders, Benedetto said. It will support a reorganization plan with funds from ongoing business and new financing.

Raw is represented by Manhattan attorney Robert L. Rattet.

The Wilton Playshop 1

orating rock musical classic “Godspell” while now getting ready for an interpretation of another innovative musical “The Last Five Years,” which will have a June 2-3 limited engagement.

Laura Ploss, the president of The Wilton Playshop, pointed out that her theater company holds a unique place within Connecticut’s theatrical history.

“We are one of the oldest continuously performing community theaters in the Northeast,” she said. “I say ‘continuously’ because there are some others that are close to the same age as us. But they didn’t keep up performances during World War II, and we have records that we did. Even during Covid, we did things online, as did a lot of theaters.”

Ploss added that The Wilton Playhouse was not in its setting at 15 Lovers Lane in Wilton during its first two decades.

“When the theater was started, it was the performing wherever they could find space,” she laughed. “Then the building was built in the 50s.”

As a nonprofit community theater, The Wilton Playhouse has pushed its actors and stage crew into works that would challenge the Broadway crowd: Noel Coward’s dry comedies, Edward Albee’s blistering emotional dramas and big musicals such as “Sweet Charity” and “Half a Sixpence” have been part of its line-up over the years. Family-oriented entertainment is a perennial during the

Christmas season and staged readings of new plays occur throughout the year.

“We try to do a lot of different things,” said Ploss, recalling that the theater even staged an opera to take advantage of the presence of Benny Jones, an opera singer who lived in Wilton.

Ploss has been involved with The Wilton Playhouse since her teen years, noting that her participation was “because my parents were involved. And, needless to say, I’m a lot older now -- I’m about to be 65, so I have I have a lot of history there. I was president when I was in my thirties, and I’m in my second slot as president now.”

While The Wilton Playshop debuted original shows in the past, Ploss admitted it has been a long time since it opted to use its stage as a world premiere.

“Most of the time we try to go for shows that work in our community theater,” she said. “We rely on filling the seats in order to pay our bills -- and because we own our own building, we’re always trying to patch roofs and replace furnaces and things like that.”

Ploss cited grants from state entities such as Connecticut Humanities and Department of Economic and Community Development and sponsorship from

Fairfield County Bank has helping to keep the theater operational, and she also expressed gratitude to local advertisers who promote themselves in the programs handed out during each performance.

Attendance at the theater’s shows is a tradition in the town -- “Wilton is a great audience,” Ploss beamed -- and people have come from across Fairfield and New Haven counties to check out the productions. A Norwalk youth program called Rising Stars recently began to rent the theater to stage their shows.

For “The Last Five Years,” the theater’s next offering, musical director Joe Michaels is eager to introduce Wilton to a work that was well received in OffBroadway, regional and London staging and in a 2014 film version starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan.

“It’s an interesting play because it only has two characters,” Michaels said. “It’s a musical, and one character, the woman, is lamenting her divorce to the other character. And that goes on throughout the entire production. The male character is actually going back in time and talking about the marriage, so it takes place at the same time on the stage, back and forth.”

Jacobs’ career is mostly focused in television production, but he is eager to return to the stage for this production.

“It’s a lot of fun for me,” he said. “Because once you get it going and it’s on the stage, it’s done. It’s the same with a live TV production -- once you get what you get on the air, there’s no turning back. I really get excited by these kinds of things.”