LEBANON, Tenn. (WTVF) — Valentine's is right around the corner, and a few places are working hard to meet the sweet tooth demand of middle Tennessee. That includes a new chocolate maker in town with their own love story to share.
"It's bigger for us than Christmas!" smiled Cassandra Durtschi. "When you think of Valentine's, the first thing you think of is love. Second thing you think of is chocolate."
She spoke from inside the new craft chocolate maker business Durci Chocolate in Lebanon.
"We work with farmers all over the world, so we actually make the chocolate ourselves from the cocoa bean," said Eric Durtschi. "We're involved with the process, all the way down to finished candies."
The couple who runs the place, the Durtschi's, have local roots.
Cassandra's from Middle Tennessee.
"Cookeville! Uh-huh!" she said.
Eric too.
"I grew up in Watertown," he said.
Chocolate wasn't always the plan. Eric lived through a major car accident and wasn't able to continue his work as a chiropractor. The couple had this sort of hobby of making chocolate. Eric asked Cassandra if she'd join him in a major new life direction.
"I'm pretty sure she made the same of it as anyone, 'um. What?'" he smiled.
Cassandra said she didn't feel that hesitation.
"There's a lot of give and take," she explained. "There's a lot of making sure we trust each other. We give each other the benefit of the doubt."
The couple was in Santa Barbara, California. They sold their business there and recently opened up this new place in Lebanon, a true family operation.
"Over here, we have Michael who is our son," Cassandra said, introducing her children working behind the counter. "He is making some of our caramel turtles."
The crew also wrapped spicy Mexican hot chocolate kisses, all in the shape of a pair of lips.
"This is good!" a woman said, taking a sip of hot chocolate with a large heart-shaped marshmallow on top.
"It's, like, three different kinds of chocolate, I think," a man said, examining his chocolate chip cookie. "It's state-of-the-art!"
Yes, it was an unexpected path that led to this business. A family will tell you, it's happened because of a love story at the heart of what they do.
"I have an incredible wife who supports me," Eric said. "She believes in me. She also understood I had to make a change. I had to do something. If I didn't have the support of my wife in this crazy change from chiropractor to chocolate maker, I never could have done it."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
With new technology comes new ways to help people. This story shows a great use of AI that is starting to be rolled out in Tennessee. This one can help those who may be blind, deaf or neurodiverse navigate the Tennessee State Library and Archives from an app on their smart phone.
-Lelan Statom
