No Italian heritage luring us to the wondrous history of olive oil. No sunny adventures in quaint Greek or Italian villages with amazing restaurants and the best spaghetti alle vongole ever. In fact, we’ve never been out of the US (though travel abroad is on the bucket list). However, we do like good food, and we learned early on in our culinary adventures that good food starts with quality ingredients. And starting with quality ingredients can make a so-so cook a great cook and turn a good cook into a gourmet chef. When we wandered into a little olive oil store in central Arizona (of all places!), we were hooked and knew the West Valley needed gourmet olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Olive Gourmet opened in Park West Mall on a hot June day in 2011.  We had one customer that day, an employee from a nearby store who had been watching as our store took shape and wondered what an “olive gourmet” was. It was a long, hot, and lean summer. What we had gotten into? But as the temperatures started to cool, even incrementally, our customer base grew. We knew we had superior products and that West Valley cooks appreciate quality ingredients.