Our Story
Cafe Le Rouge
190 Main Street, Westport CT-06880
Tuesday - Sunday: 11.00 am - 5.00 pm (Closed on Monday)
Phone: 203-293-6106
Email: lerouge.aarti@gmail.com
I grew up in India and am privileged to call many countries across the globe home…. The U.S., London, and Hong Kong to name a few. Born with “foodie genes” and blessed with a mom who is an amazing cook, it was easy to follow my passion to become an artisan chocolatier.
After years of spending my life following a somewhat traditional script: earning degrees in Economics and International Marketing, working for large corporations, starting my first company in my early 20s, traveling the world, raising two beautiful children and two dogs, and calling many places home along the way I finally decided to follow my passion and start Le Rouge Chocolates by Aarti.
The initial inspiration to start Le Rouge came from a desire to use chocolate as a medium to showcase the rich diversity of Indian desserts, and the subsequent collections are an effort to capture the flavors from around the world in the divine language of chocolate.
The idea was fueled further by the fact that no one was doing anything inspired by Indian desserts. After hours of experimenting and learning from the masters in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, it has been a roller coaster as I try to capture the flavors from all the places we had the fortune to live or visit around the world.
Initially, I worked out of a rented commercial kitchen and sold the product through various farmer’s markets, chocolate shows, and holiday boutiques. In early 2013, I introduced our unique line of European Ganache cakes. As the business grew, I launched our website in 2013, and finally opened our first brick and mortar store in downtown Westport, CT, in November of 2014.
At present, our products are shipped all over the U.S. and are also offered for limited shipping worldwide.
Le Rouge Chocolates by Aarti are created in small batches using fair trade dark chocolate and the freshest ingredients. Each creation is hand-painted and hand-decorated. Each order is made fresh, hand-packaged, and is shipped within 2-3 days. Any orders placed after Thursday are shipped on the following Monday as we do not ship over the weekend.
Stop by at our new flagship cafe in downtown Westport to enjoy all our chocolate creations as well as fresh new Hot Chocolates and plated desserts.