Sam Ratto didn’t know he wanted to be a bean-to-bar chocolatier. That discovery came after he and his wife, Star Sink-Ratto, moved to Raleigh, N.C. Upon their arrival, a friend arranged for them to get jobs at a local bean-to-bar chocolate factory.
It was there that Ratto became convinced that chocolate was to become his life’s work, the revelation coming after he sat down in front of a pile of cocoa beans and started sorting them. It triggered a thirst for knowledge about cacao and chocolate-making — one that eventually led him to opening up Videri Chocolate Factory with his wife and good friend, Chris Heavener.