If you're familiar with The Ancient Olive in Winter Park, you may also be familiar with their other locations around Florida. The one on Park Avenue is the original, the two owners, Bryan Behling & Jeffrey Schrader, living in Maitland. I LUV Locally Owned Locally Operated #ILUVLOLO small businesses, as so many do Winter Parkers. My favorites, however, are the ones which bring something truly unique to their offerings, something you can get only with them! That is the case with The Ancient Olive, with both Winter Park & Florida specific offerings.
Let's learn a bit more about the guys behind The Ancient Olive, the I LUV Winter Park Small Business of the Month for March 2023!
How long has The Ancient Olive been open on Park Avenue? We opened the doors for our first sale in November of 2011, so we've been in The Hidden Garden off Park Avenue for over 11years.
What was your inspiration to open this shop how you have? We left our corporate lives and started our lives on Park Avenue as the owners of The Spice & Tea Exchange, which is a great franchise store, but we really wanted to do something that was all ours. We wanted to do something that we created from the ground up, something that included all the amazing gourmet foods that are available to us.
How would you describe your shop to someone who hasn’t visited? The Ancient Olive is a gourmet food store that is approachable for the novice foodie and a treasure trove of great products for the most experienced foodies. Our sales team know the stories behind the products and they are experts at giving advice on how to use the products. And you can try almost everything before you buy.
Tell us about all the things you carry and why they are a part of the mix? We are very careful in our selection of gourmet foods, they have to have exceptional ingredients, great packaging and, of course, have great flavor. We look for products that most people will use often, and we don't offer items that are overly-specialized or overly-unique. Many of our products are sofi winners, which means the creator has won the equivalent of an Academy Award for fine food. Sofi stands for specialty outstanding food innovation, and the Specialty Food Association’s Sofi™ Awards have been honoring the best in specialty food for over 50 years.
Who is your most frequent customer? Our stores appeal to male and female customers of all ages! We are very fortunate to have support from our local communities as well as a whole lot of tourists who enjoy the experience in our stores and then remain customers by purchasing from us on our website: TheAncientOlive.com.
What do you wish others would know about your shop they may not get immediately? We feel that great Southern-made foods don't always get the representation that great foods made in New York City or California seem to get easily. We have a nice selection of Southern-made and Locally sourced foods.
What time of year is your busiest? Fourth quarter is definitely our busiest time of year, and March, April and May are great months for our stores, too.
Where are your other locations now and how long have they been open? We have six locations now: St Augustine has been open since 2012; The Villages has been open since 2014; St Armands Circle in Sarasota and Hyde Park Village in Tampa locations have been open since 2017; the Winter Garden location opened in 2022.
Which is your favorite olive oil? Bryan and Jeffrey are huge fans of single varietal EVOOs. Jeffrey likes the big bold flavors with lots of pepper and bitter notes, and Bryan likes medium-robust oils that have balanced flavor profiles.
Do you dream about olive oil? This is a fun question to answer. Yes, we probably do dream of great olive oil, but not nearly as much as do the people who create the beautiful oils we offer our customers. We are on multiple lists for best places in the US and the world to purchase olive oils, and we are our importers' second largest purchasers of olive oil in the US and Canada, so yes, we probably dream about olive oil!
Which is the most popular olive oil you offer? Our Tuscan Herb and Blood Orange olive oils are our customer favorites.
Tell us about being located in The Hidden Garden? You’re off The Avenue, somewhat, but it’s so charming in that space. We are one of a small number free-standing stores on Park Avenue which makes our space somewhat unique. Of course, the beautiful courtyard gives us space to set-up shop outside at times, and to offer special experiences to our customer throughout the year. Our team works hard indoors every day and the courtyard gives them the feeling of being outside.
How have you changed the store over the years? The space was actually two storefronts for many years, but we removed a wall to create the single storefront we have now. We've added a small kitchen area so we can provide samples for our customers. We are in the process of rebranding our stores, so the next change will be the interior paint color change to be dark and moody (in a good way), like our Winter Garden store.
Any changes / goals on the horizon? We have a GREAT team in the Winter Park store (actually all the stores), and a goal for sure is to retain them. Our team includes Shannon who has been with us for ten years, Joel and Pam have been with us for 8 years, Lisa for 4 years, Stephen for 2 years, and Steven is our newest member from 2022. We may look at one additional location, but we are pretty happy with the locations we have now.
What’s the best part of having a small business on Park Avenue? Honestly, it is the community. We have many friends we met as customers who are now a part of our everyday lives. We never get tired of driving onto Park Avenue to see the shops and Central Park, and to chat with old and new customers. Winter Park and Park Avenue are unique gems that cannot be replaced or found anywhere else in the country. Truly a wonderful place to do business!
Check out The Ancient Olive on Park Avenue in the Hidden Garden Courtyard, just south of Canton Avenue. Find them online at TheAncientOlive.com.
Cheers to Jeffrey & Bryan and staff on their awesome, awesomely delicious success!