Arete Fine Chocolate Delays Spencer Opening

Arete Fine Chocolates hopes to open their new Spencer store by late July.

Company Founder David Senk said recent issues have pushed back the opening of the family-owned business, which was supposed to open by May.

“Between being busy and fighting with the weather, the contractors are almost always behind schedule,” Senk said. “we’ve ended up pushing out a couple of months behind what we would have hoped.”

Despite the setbacks, Senk remains optimistic as he and his wife, Leslie, get set to open their business.

The Senks first started Arete Fine Chocolate in San Jose, California. David said cost of living and business played a factor into moving to Tennessee.

“It’s really expensive to do business in and to live in California where we were,” he said. “We would not have been able to do the chocolate business full-time if we had stayed in California for another 10 to 15 years.”

Senk said the goal of his chocolate business is to focus on quality over quantity.

“We do everything we possibly can to bring out the best in the chocolate,” Senk said. “It’s a much more expensive product to make, it’s a more expensive product to consume. But it’s also a completely different product than you’d buy at a supermarket.”

Senk said he hopes the business grows considerably so he can hire local workers.

Arete Fine Chocolates will be located in the Haston Block Building on Veterans Square in Spencer.