Dan Rattigan and Jael Skeffington came to Asheville on a school bus-turned-RV after leaving Costa Rica. The two lived in the Midwest, met at a wedding, and then moved to the Caribbean islands. That’s where they bought a cacao plantation, which ultimately led to the opening of the French Broad Chocolate Lounge. The beloved Asheville institution has grown over the years to include a tasting room and more — a mini chocolate empire that is now struggling in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
“Our chocolate factory is on the river, so it was extremely scary,” says co-owner Jael. “We sandbagged and did everything we could to prevent water from breaching, and those efforts saved us from catastrophic damage. Our cafe and gift shop flooded, but our production floor, where we make all the chocolate, did not. Our downtown Chocolate Lounge did not suffer any damage.”
Jael says it is hard to see her adopted hometown in shambles.
Like many of Asheville’s gems, this is a homegrown business. Dan and Jael started making chocolates in their home kitchen and selling them online and at area farmers’ markets until they realized they needed more space and more chocolate. They opened the French Broad Chocolate Lounge in 2008.
After just a year, the lounge was so popular that they expanded the space to the two floors above it, and in 2014, they moved to a bigger building in the heart of downtown Asheville.
They also opened the French Broad Chocolate Factory & Tasting Room, where they normally churn out 50 tons of chocolate every year.
“It’s this intense juxtaposition,” explains Jael. “There’s this unimaginably violent destruction — mud and debris, trees and telephone poles, houses underwater, and buildings collapsed. That alongside the beauty and solidarity of our community working together to support each other. It’s so hard to even process, let alone describe. I can say it is heartbreaking.”
On the front page of the company’s website, there’s a message explaining how bad things got during Hurricane Helene. “Dan and I watched in horror as cars and telephone poles floated by our Chocolate Factory and began to lap at the front door. Fortunately, our team’s preparation in sandbagging prevented most of the water from breaching. The water rose to 39 inches up our front door.”
Jael feels lucky they have some product already made and stored in their distribution center that they can sell. The proceeds will help her staff. Once that product is gone, she says they won’t be able to make chocolate again until they get through all the cleanup and have water and power restored.
“We are figuring out the best way to distribute funds to our team while we are unable to provide them all work,” she says.
“Our staff is all safe. Many have evacuated to safe places, and many are still here, waiting to be able to go back to work,” says Jael. “It’s really heavy to know they depend on the business to provide their livelihood, and we are unable to offer that since we can’t operate.”
“We need power and water to operate both retail locations and our Chocolate Factory,” she continues. “We cannot make or sell products, earn income, or bring back work for our team until we have those utilities in place. It’s so uncertain living in this limbo while we wait for Asheville’s destroyed water infrastructure to be rebuilt. We’re hearing it could be weeks or months.”
If you’d like to help French Broad Chocolate Lounge on its road to recovery, you can buy chocolate or donate HERE.
**********
Looking for ways to help? Check out these wonderful organizations accepting donations, and subscribe to our daily emails. We’ll continue to share updates in the coming weeks.
