The goal is to be an online storefront for Connecticut entrepreneurial home cooks, bakers, and caterers to showcase and sell their products throughout the state.
Connecticut-based Caterlush, a Shelton-based business, operates with the goal of connecting food lovers with talented independent chefs and food creators. It was opened by a pair of 25-year-old female business owners, Snghyun Byon and Ajla Drici.
Drici is a Shelton resident. She’s an immigrant from Albania who came to the U.S. in 2018 and settled in her current town in 2021.
Drici previously worked in wealth management after earning a bachelor’s degree in finance and economics. She built a charcuterie business as her “side hustle” in evenings and weekends for small events, gatherings or weddings.
“At the time, I was just operating this on my own. I didn’t have any help. And I was pretty much posting on Facebook groups every Monday or every first of the of the month, depending on the rules, regulations of the group,” she said. “That’s how I started getting my first clients because a lot of people in Shelton and surrounding areas were finding my posts and reaching out to me. That’s how I was getting business initially.
She was communicating with customers through Instagram and payments were done through Venmo. She organized everything on spreadsheets. “I found some platforms, but they weren’t food orientated. I found other people in Connecticut were having the same issue,” she said.
So was born the new idea.
Now, a customer can go to the Caterlush business website and select from a growing list of 48 different food creators from around the state and can set up a pickup or schedule a delivery for the order.
The customer will directly communicate with the person preparing the food for a homemade meal, or a catered event.
The goal of the new company is to empower home cooks and to provide customers with authentic and personalized dining. Drici first researched the business idea in January 2025.
“I found a lot of people are feeling similarly to how I’m feeling. I started Caterlush and we incorporated in June,” Drici said. “I quit my full-time in June of 2025, and we launched in November of 2025 after a lot of trouble and obstacles. It was so hard to bring this vision to life…Then down the road with my partner’s help and my senior software engineers help, we came to put all the pieces together and finally launch in November.”
“When we launched, it was meant for food creators now [to have] a platform to sign up, build their profile, list their menu,” she said. “Customers now have a platform for them to sign up and purchase these services. The platform is intended for only micro food creators like home chefs like my charcuterie business that I operate…It’s as easy as using social media to purchase goods from these food creators so they don’t have to list their food on Etsy or Facebook Marketplace and sell in a platform that’s not intended for food.”
Drici said the company is looking to reach food managers, event planners who typically use local caterers.
“We want to give this very underestimated lane of food creators a platform, so they don’t have to rely on Venmo. It’s mainly women and immigrants who perform these services,” Drici said.
Drici said the company has not made a lot of money yet. They take a 3 percent transaction fee when customers complete an order. Drici said she wants to keep fees low and eventually hopes to make money off of businesses who want to advertise for more prominent placement on the company website.
“Down the road, I want my business model to change over time to an advertising model where food creators on the platform will pay an advertising fee only if they want to be promoted or featured at the top of the page. So that’s where I want to take Caterlush in terms of business model right now,” Drici said.
Drici said opening this business accomplishes a childhood dream. Her parents have a bakery in Albania where she developed her love for her current business.
“I know statistically, 70% of entrepreneurs are immigrants, and that means a lot because you come into a place from a different set of circumstances,” Drici said.
“None of these things that I have now, none of these chances and opportunities and people that I’m meeting now, I would have never met these people, or I would have never had the chance to chase my dream where, where I was like 5 years ago, 6 years ago.”
Byon, who described herself as Korean American, is a California resident. She previously lived in Indiana and Massachusetts. The company’s co-founder works in operations, public relations and marketing.
“When I joined the project, we really sat down and talked about what exactly food creators could potentially need and like, what kind of niche we could potentially fulfill for them, what problems we could solve,” Byon said.
“It seems like there is kind of a ubiquitous scene, especially with talking to food creators as well for this online storefront type of marketplace where you handle all of the marketing on our end and also provide a secure sales channel and have almost like a Facebook marketplace for food…People who live in Connecticut to order from these small business owners and make it easier to support local.”
“In addition to charcuterie artists, there are also people who shuck oysters as well as food trucks. Anyone who owns and manages their own food business and is obviously licensed to do so, can sign up to be a vendor on our platform… We really give those people that are in between a fighting chance because we really believe in the power of starting your own business like we did.”
The company currently has 282 active customers and are expanding each day. Byon said the company has made about $15,000 in revenue to this point and are optimistic about the future.
The headquarters for the business is 55 Bridgeport Avenue in Shelton.
“I’m just hoping that people continue to shop local,” Byon said. “I think that it’s so important, especially in today’s times to stay close to your community. It’s really an honor being able to serve people who are pursuing their passions and dreams, just like Ajla and I are doing by venturing out and creating a startup.”