Olive oil plays a major role in cooking, and with consumers continuing to prepare their own meals from home, it’s an essential ingredient to keep on hand and on shelves. This trend in home cooking has created ample opportunity for olive oil brands, such as ENZO Olive Oil Company, to connect with their customers in new and different ways. I tapped Vincent Ricchiuti, Director of Operations at ENZO Olive Oil Co, to learn more about current consumer trends and how the company is meeting those demands.
“ENZO has always had a pretty strong DTC presence through our website, so we were well poised to adjust when the pandemic first started last March,” he explains. “Over the course of the past year, our online sales have seen steady growth, both because of the work that we had put into our site in advance as well as results from people cooking more at home. This past year, we released a new 3 liter tin of olive oil to account for people interested in buying in bulk and stocking up on their ingredients at home, which has been quite popular.”
With health and well-being as top priorities, organic products continue to attract shoppers’ attention, which puts ENZO in a favorable position as its organic olive oils remain a top-selling item. In addition to olive oils, ENZO has a plethora of specialty products available to spice up the palate, such as its seasonal Autumn Spice almond butter—a twist on the popular organic Almond Butter the company crafts from its own estate-grown almonds.
“This year, we had a few exciting new product releases that were wildly successful, including our seasonal Autumn Spice Almond Butter we created in collaboration with Burlap & Barrel,” Vincent says. “This was a play on the popular pumpkin spice trend using really high-quality ingredients, and people loved it—we sold out completely within the first four months and are looking forward to bringing this product back again next year.”
As shoppers continue to cook from home, ENZO has noticed that more consumers are turning to its online site to purchase standard kitchen supplies, such as the company’s olive oil and other staple products. And with consumers relying more and more on grocery delivery, the demand for products to be made available online is ever more increasing.
“I think the biggest shift for us has been the increased demand across the board for products purchased online—that's definitely been a shift in terms of shopping habits,” Vincent continued. “Everything we’ve done this past year has been building on those successes and finding new and better ways to reach our customers across the country while they’re in their homes. We also still have our ENZO Olive Oil label in grocery, which enables consumers another access point at which to purchase our products on local shelves.”
The company has its hold on the olive oil market, and so far it seems that hold is widening. Olive oil is only a short slide away from the charcuterie board, so when I asked if there would be any hopes for consumers like me out there, Vincent teased the prospect is something the company is interested in exploring in the future. So fingers crossed!
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