At Videri Chocolate Factory, customers’ mouths will water while watching the fresh, hot, creamy chocolate be crushed, mixed and cooked before their eyes. But the anticipation is sure to pay off, as soon as they take that first bite.
The new chocolate factory opened in The Depot in downtown Raleigh on Dec. 16, and has been sharing the delights of handcrafted chocolate ever since.
Sam Ratto is the man behind the chocolate bar — Videri’s very own Willy Wonka . While working at another place in Raleigh, he became involved in sorting and roasting the cocoa beans, which led to him to blending his own batches of chocolate. He enjoyed the new hobby, and those who tasted the chocolate enjoyed it as well. A year later he opened up Videri Chocolate Factory with his wife and other business partners.
“The word ‘video’ comes from the Latin word ‘videri ,’ and for people to be able to see the process of how the chocolate is made was important to us,” Ratto said. “That’s how we came up with the name Videri Chocolate Factory.”
Thad Paulson, an employee at Videri , explained how the chocolate is made.
“It’s all made in house every step of the way, from bean to bar,” Paulson said. “All of our cocoa beans are fair trade and organic. We also use organic cocoa butter and organic sugar; nothing else is added, unless it’s a special ingredient, such as sea salt or pink peppercorn.”
“We have a year’s worth of beans in the store. Every bean goes through our hands at some point. We roast and winnow the beans right here. The winnower separates the nib from the rest of the bean and the nib is where all the oils and flavors are. The nib gets grounded up and then the cocoa butter and sugar gets added.
“It spends a few days in the grinder and when the mixture is good, we spatula it into a bin to cool, seal them up and let it set for a few weeks to settle and let the flavors emulsify. When we’re ready, we heat up the chocolate back into a liquid and put it into the molds. Then, we cool it off, take it out and wrap it up,” Paulson said.
Videri offers four year-round flavors: 70 percent classic dark chocolate, dark milk chocolate with 50 to 55 percent cocoa, 60 percent dark chocolate with sea salt sprinkled on top and 60 percent dark chocolate with pink peppercorn. They also make seasonal flavors, such as the candy cane and 60 percent dark chocolate bar they made for the holiday season.
“It’s really cool to make chocolate from scratch; we focus in on quality and specific tastes.” Ratto said. “We’re more focused on making five great things than trying to make 75 products. We want to make the best chocolate we can make before expanding into the realm of truffles, ganaches etc.”
Ratto’s quality over quantity maxim has proven to be a successful one. Videri sold out 3 times between Dec. 16 and Christmas Day and business doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Videri has plans to add in a coffee counter with a barista shortly after Valentine’s Day. Videri is a BYOB facility, and Ratto encourages people to bring a friend, date or group and hang out and enjoy the chocolate.
Word about the new chocolate factory in Raleigh has spread among N.C . State students and has been met with excitement.
“I love chocolate, especially dark chocolate, so for there to be a place in Raleigh where you can watch it be made and really get to see the entire process is really cool,” Loretta Stinson, a senior in business administration, said. “It’s great that Raleigh now has something like this.”
“Making chocolate sort of makes you feel like a kid again,” Ratto said, “although maybe not the part where you have to pick up a 150-lb bag of cocoa beans.”
