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Vesta Chocolate is now open at 598 Valley Road in Upper Montclair.
The shop is run by triple-threat chef, chocolate-maker and chocolatier Roger Rodriguez, along with his wife and business partner Julia Choi Rodriguez, who is also a pastry chef and food stylist.
Vesta Chocolate is an artisan bean-to-bar chocolate lab and boutique featuring chocolate bars, confections, and baked goods.
There will also be some secret menu items all hand-crafted on premise daily in small batches by Chef Roger using organic cacao beans sourced from the Dominican Republic and other Latin American regions.
The chocolate shop is housed in a former early 1900’s bank space replete with the original vault that displays Vesta’s artisan chocolate creations. The café and retail shop seats up to 18 and will offer guests a place where they can drop in and enjoy Vesta’s artisanal chocolate, confections and specialty beverages or buy chocolate and other custom-made gift items.
Vesta will hold a chocolate pairing events, classes and double as a private event space. The shop can fulfill custom chocolate orders and can supply wholesale products to hotels, events or other retail businesses.
The couple plans on launching an e-commerce business and ship their products to customers nationally.
Chef Roger is one of an exclusive group of only 190 bean to bar chocolate makers in the entire country and one of the only a few in New Jersey.
Julia started her own business "Baby One More Bite," where she coupled her advertising and culinary backgrounds, styling food for some of the most recognizable brands including Wendy’s, Starbucks, Guinness, KRAFT, Food Network and more.
Vesta Chocolate is named after the Vesta, the Roman goddess of hearth, home and family -- ideals the couple values and wants to share with the community.
Click here for Vesta Chocolate's Facebook page.
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