Jael Rattigan, along with her husband, Dan, lived and worked in the cacao-rich rainforest of Costa Rica for two years. At the restaurant they opened, Bread and Chocolate, they were able to source local chocolate for their handmade desserts, sparking a passion for cacao and all things chocolate. They moved to Asheville, NC in 2006 to pursue their chocolate path, and opened French Broad Chocolates. What started as a farmers market stand, has grown to include a web store (frenchbroadchocolates.com), a dessert restaurant, French Broad Chocolate Lounge (est. 2008), a chocolate boutique and bar library, Chocolate+Milk (est. 2014), and a Chocolate Factory & Tasting Room (est. 2012), where they import cacao, roast, winnow, grind, refine and temper it into bean-to-bar chocolate. The chocolate is transformed into their collection of craft chocolate bars, and is used as an ingredient in their pastries and confections at the Chocolate Lounge.