Brand
Olive & Marlowe
What neighborhood do you live in?
Allison Park
Tell us the story about your brand. Why is it the best?
I have owned Olive & Marlowe since 2011 and started working in the olive oil business in 2010. After launching my company, I started taking olive oil sensory and chemistry courses at UC Davis to bolster my education and knowledge of the products I carried. I love working with small California producers because the quality is terrific and I love supporting this domestic industry.
What is your background? How did it lead you to starting your brand?
My background is actually in fine art; I have a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art, but ever since middle school I have had an interest in food and spent seven years working in co-ops and natural food markets. I had been entertaining an offer to manage the produce department at the East End Food Co-Op before I decided to jump into business ownership because it was something I knew I loved and would be good at. Produce had been sort of an art medium for me at a previous job, and I knew that world, but wanted the flexibility as a parent that being an entrepreneur could afford, and wanted to keep my child and future children with me as much as possible while I worked. Though running Olive & Marlowe isn't much of a visual endeavor, it still feels creative, and putting together my setups at farmers markets and events does engage the right side of my brain that I was using in jobs like when I was an Anthropologie Display Coordinator. I do believe that some of that still comes through.
What one product do we need to know about and why?
The 25 Star traditional balsamic is, hands down, my best selling product. People go nuts for it. I have a customer who, since I closed my brick and mortar in 2018, will email me at least once a month to ask me to bring him a bottle or two to his home or office. He regularly buys them as gifts. It means a great deal that he and so many others, some going back to my earliest days in the Pittsburgh Public Market in the Strip District's Terminal Building when I was a new mother, have loved and bought this from me. I really enjoy hearing how people use it--it's a staple salad dressing for most of my customers. Some will share that they ran out and, in a pinch, went to the store to buy an alternative and their disappointment is almost comical; the difference is STARK, they say! Personally, I think it's a must on pizza.
In three words, why do you love Pittsburgh?
People, land, community
How can people find out more about you?
www.oliveandmarlowe.com
@oliveandmarlowepgh
www.facebook.com/OliveandMarlowe