Episode 94: Vesta Chocolate

In today's episode, Joanna speaks with Roger and Julia Wood about the inspiration behind their bean to bar chocolate boutique, Vesta Chocolate, on Valley Road in Upper Montclair. Roger, an accomplished chocolatier and chef at top restaurants like Jean George and Gramercy Tavern, and Julia, a food stylist at the Food Network and many Major Brands, have joined forces in both marriage and entrepreneurship to open a stylish cafe that required redesigning a former bank entrance, complete with original vault, and adding a chocolate kitchen. They explain the story of how Covid shut them down only a few months after they opened, but inspired a whole new level of creativity that helped make it to their one year anniversary, on January 22, 2021