Snake & Butterfly Offer More Than Just Chocolate

This local Campbell business can be called home-grown and community-focused from the ground up.

Snake & Butterfly began with a group of individuals passionate about great tasting, hand-made and responsibly-purchased chocolate. They moved the operation from their home kitchen to the downtown Campbell Farmers Market and, with the help of loyal customers and friends, into a retail space along E. Campbell Avenue.

Less than a year later, the business has grown into a place for the community to meet, read books together, play games offline and listen to live music.

Further weaving itself into the fabric of the Campbell community, Snake & Butterfly has picked up the reigns from Bombshell Boutique owner Brooke Ramirez and is organizing downtown Campbell's popular "First Friday" events, kicking off the season with "April Fools" this Friday, April 5.

"I think it’s a good place to be right now," says Vince Flores. "It’s a nice little town and we get a lot of support from businesses, and the city council and staff are working to make it even better down here."

Flores is one of five managing partners at the local business. He grew up in Los Gatos and he, along with his daughter Celeste, has lived in Campbell for more than five years.

Mara Privitt echoes his insight into the Orchard City.

"Our ultimate goal was to have a retail space in downtown Campbell," Privitt says. "We looked at San Jose, Saratoga, Los Gatos … but nothing felt right. When we had the opportunity, we bought the existing business’ lease."

Along with Privitt, Flores and his daughter Celeste, the business is managed by Ben Bulik and James Hull.

Kickstarting the Business with Kickstarter

All businesses need a little seed money to get them started. Snake & Butterfly is no exception but the way they went about raising the funds is very Silicon Valley.

The partners decided to give it a go with Kickstarter, a site that allows individuals to make their pitch via video and then allow people to pledge money until the goal is met or a month passes. If at the end of the time period the goal is met, Kickstarter takes 5 percent of the goal raised.

"We needed to have some money to be able to open a retail business," Privitt says. "We figured that we’d have great response from our customers. We saw an opportunity to let them be a part of it."

The Campbell business launched its Kickstarter on April 2012 and its goal was to hit $20,000. The campaign closed in May 2012 and Snake & Butterfly raised $21,000 from 93 "backers."

"We were ecstatic when we hit it," she says. "It came from friends and family a few random strangers."

Chocolate Made With Care

A chocolate is a chocolate is a chocolate, right?

Privitt and Flores say that's where people need to pay close attention.

"A lot of chocolate that comes out of Africa is forced labor: women and children," Flores says. "People should be really thoughtful about the chocolate they are buying because they may be unwittingly supporting bad activities. The Ivory Coast is a big supplier and most use it because its really cheap."

When asked what her favorite chocolate is, Privitt doesn't skip a beat; "Ours."

She goes on to say that the shop's careful blending of the products and care to purchase only organic and fair-trade chocolates are what make them the best.

"We get quality chocolate and treat them well," she says. "It’s just good chocolate."

The shop works with the beans from the Dominican Republic, Peru and Bali. 

"Blending them together gives you all the best qualities of the regions," Privitt says.

Privitt's list of blended chocolates not to be missed in the shop:

• 62 percent Cacao
• 76 percent Cacao
• Bacon Toffee
• Cherry & Chil
• Ginger and Nib
• Sea Salt and Smoked Almond

*Editor's note: The original posted article noted Sonya Paz as the previous organizer of First Fridays. Bombshell Boutique's Brooke Ramirez was actually the previous organizer.

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