Cacao, Nuts, Fruit And Chocolate Shop Opens In Newton

NEWTON, MA —It's possible you've seen the sign in Newton Highlands. Cacao: There's a new nut and chocolate shop in town, folks, and they have hot chocolate and coffee.

"Our hot chocolate is extremely popular right now, it's really good," Cacao's owner Leo Baez said.

The menu includes drinking chocolates, coffee and espresso and plenty of treats and gift options.

The nuts come mostly from California, unless it's a specialty nut like the Turkish Pistachios. The chocolate is from Belgium for now.

Leo Baez and his partner and fiance Perla Rosario roast and spice the nuts themselves, and they create their own chocolate barks and mendiants and other chocolates here, too.

Baez said his family had cashew trees in the Dominican Republic and he always loved eating the cashews right from the tree. In the back of his mind he wanted to open a nut shop one day. Two years ago he and Rosario did just that in Jamaica Plain.

He grew up in JP and attended Boston Public Schools and then worked for 13 years for a maintenance company before he started his own maintenance company about six years ago.

He said for the past two years people from Newton and Needham would find their way to his shop in JP and ask if he'd consider opening in Newton.

"In the beginning it was just a conversation," he said "Newton was the top of his list if we were ever to open a second shop."

Then one day a landlord walked into his shop, loved the concept and reached out.

"It was just something just meant to happen," Baez said.

He planned to expand to Newton Highlands and signed a lease in January.

"Right before the wold changed," he said.

He tried to back out, and sat down with the landlord to explain how nervous he was with so much going on he didn't know what to expect. But his landlord was flexible and worked with him.

That was a relief, but it was still scary times.

He had planned to renovate the space in March, but that got pushed back to July because of the pandemic.

He'd stand out some days in front of the shop during the construction and wonder if he made the right decision.

"There was no foot traffic, there was no one in the street," he said. "Many, many times I thought 'what am I getting myself into?'"

The two had to close the Jamaica Plain Cacao for a time. They weren't sure if they would be able to open their second shop.

In March Baez's application for a license was approved at the 23 Lincoln St. space, and they're open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and then Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. And 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. They got approval for 12 seats and envisioned the back originally as a chocolate cafe lounge, but that's on hold for a while.

"As COVID hit, things changed," he said. "I want my shop to be a destination where you can just go grab something and hang around."

Three weeks ago they opened quietly in the space and have been pleasantly surprised by the support of the community, said Rosario. It's been good.

"It's scary to open in the middle of a pandemic," she said. "But the community has been very supportive."

Jenna Fisher is a news reporter for Patch. Got a tip? She can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a something you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how.