Business & Tech
Vienna Business: Cocoa Vienna Set to Open This Weekend
Locally owned chocolatier offers a wide variety of handmade chocolates at a new shop on Church Street.
With over 60 varieties of chocolate truffles and ganache, nut clusters, chocolate bark, freshly dipped chocolate in strawberries and more, Cocoa Vienna is designed to be a chocolate lovers' dream.
Co-owners Sam Aboulhosn and Staci Meruvia are set to open their new chocolate business by this Friday in Vienna. A ribbon cutting ceremony with local officials is scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday at the shop's location on Church Street — in the space formerly occupied by Once Upon A Time.
Aboulhosn, who has been in the chocolate business for over 12 years, and has owned three different chocolate factories in the D.C. area, was looking for a change and decided to start a new venture.
Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.
He met Meruvia eight years ago through their daughter's basketball team and their families became friends. Meruvia always dreamed of opening her own shop and when the opportunity came up with Aboulhosn, the timing was right to take the plunge.
"I'm a very creative person and I always thought it would be the neatest thing ever to open a chocolate shop," Meruvia said.
Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.
The two have been working out of a temporary production facility until the shop was ready to open. They create specialty chocolates and "everything is made on site," Aboulhosn said.
"We have molds for every holiday, everything from motorcycles to airplanes, sports, corporate logos and more. There are over 1000 different molds," Meruvia said.
Cocoa Vienna can create custom gift baskets and corporate orders, and anything can be personalized, Meruvia said.
The shop plans to eventually sell hot chocolate and coffee in a few weeks. They look forward to hosting local wineries in the shop so they can pair the wines with Cocoa Vienna's chocolate.
Meruvia also added they plan to offer social events such as renting out their space for adult or children's birthday parties.
"We're a very local, hometown business and we love our area," Meruvia said.
Cocoa Vienna is located at 120 Church Street, Vienna in the building formerly occupied by Once Upon A Time. They can be found on Facebook and Twitter with regular updates of their business.
