Today we’d like to introduce you to Carla Susi.
Carla, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
We started Araya Artisan Chocolate 7 years ago because of our passion for quality chocolate and our eagerness to start our own business.
My sister Silvana, my husband Stefano and I, were full time corporate employees when we thought that the time was right to start our own business.
Silvana was living in Houston where, at that time, locally made gourmet chocolates was rare and the trend for high quality chocolate was growing fast. It was a great opportunity to start our own manufacturing business.
Our home country, Venezuela, is the place that grows some of the finest cacao in the world and it has been recognized by connoisseurs. We spent time traveling and visiting small farmers that take care of these delicate cacao plants and we fell in love with the process and the flavor complexities of the chocolate.
We had the opportunity to train the art of making chocolate with our friend, Maria Di Giacobe – Basque Culinary World Prize – and we quit our corporate jobs to immerse ourselves in chocolate. We work in her factory and learned from her experience.
We created our own recipes catering to the American and international palate and came to Houston to open our first of three locations in 2010.
Has it been a smooth road?
It was not easy at all!
Moving our family to Houston while opening a business was a real challenge.
It took one year from the moment we started with the idea to the actual opening of the doors at our River Oaks location. Even finding our first location was difficult since we didn’t have an established brand.
We had to work very hard and get knowledgeable in many different areas outside the business in order to smooth the process due to our lack of experience in retail and manufacturing.
Even though it was a rough year, making happy clients after experiencing our chocolates, made it all worth it. We are grateful to have a clientele that appreciates what we do and had been loyal since we started.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Our chocolates are fresh and all handcrafted locally in small batches following the French and Belgian techniques. They are made to indulge your senses with the aroma and intense flavors of our main ingredient, premium single-origin Venezuelan chocolate.
The chocolate ganache is then combined with only the finest ingredients from around the world including spices, nuts, fruits and also liquors. Each bite is intended to easily melt in your mouth and leave a memorable experience.
It is important for us to use fair traded chocolate and natural ingredients free of preservatives.
Our clients appreciate that we use a high concentration of cacao in our creations, full of flavonoids. And they love our unique combinations of flavors that include ingredients as varied as hot spices, pink Himalayan salt and balsamic vinegar that blow your taste buds away.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Houston is a great place for business!
Diversity of cultures, high disposable income and a great support from institutions as SCORE and UH’s Small Business Development Center, make the difference when starting a new business.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2013 W Gray St., Houston, TX 77019
1141 Uptown Park Blvd., Houston, TX 77056
1575 W Grand Parkway S., Suite 1000, Katy, TX 77494 - Website: www.arayachocolate.com
- Phone: 832 967 7935
- Email: arayachocolate@gmail.com
Image Credit:
Nancy Aidee Photography
Christa Elyce Photography
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