Daily Archives: October 8, 2013

Sandy Burn hopes to bring some flavor to downtown with her new business venture.

Burn, an entrepreneur from Greenville, has opened the doors to Olive and Then Some in a 2,300-square-foot space at 124 Magnolia St.

The store is an offshoot of Palmetto Olive Oil, a business she opened in 2011 off Augusta Street with her business partners Charlotte and Michael Easler. It is a taste-first retailer of premium traditional and flavored olive oils, other gourmet oils and balsamic vinegars.

“This is really exciting,” Burn said. “We’re hoping to become a destination that attracts customers and helps energize other businesses in downtown.”

Burn’s space blends historic charm with a modern, upscale boutique. The entrance has three brick archways and mosaic tile flooring leading to the front door.

The interior is illuminated by two skylights and a large rear window. It has wood floors, exposed brick, rustic furnishings, an earthy paint scheme and shelves lined with bottled oils and vinegars.

Customers are greeted at the door and ushered in to taste the goods before purchasing them. A piece of fresh-baked ciabatta bread dipped into olive oil, a dollop of vanilla ice cream drizzled with balsamic vinegar and brownies infused with flavored olive oil are meant to tantalize the taste buds.

All of Burn’s vinegar varieties are imported from Italy and aged at least 18 years. The owner has eight flavors of white balsamics, 13 dark balsamics and a 25-year-old sherry vinegar from Spain.

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The Australian Olive Association has presented federal parliamentarians with a 29-page booklet, backing up its calls for a mandatory olive oil standard.

Australia has had a voluntary olive oil standard registered with Standards Australia for three years.

President of the Olive Association, Paul Miller, says that standard is now gaining international recognition and he’s hoping it will help growers win political support for it to become mandatory in Australia.

“I’ve presented it in Japan, I’ve spent a lot of time in the USA working with the US industry, that seems to be copying what we are doing.

“South Africa is about to adopt our standard, so it’s had a remarkable international impact.

“I think Australia can fairly say we’ve really raised the bar a little around the world with regard to olive oil.

“The most important impact of that is that it will mean more consumers will get the real thing delivered to them, as labelled,” he said.

Mr Miller believes making the standard mandatory would give the ACCC more power to combat falsely labelled olive oil.

On the futured photo: Australian Olive Association President Paul Miller at the annual conference in Hobart (Sally Dakis)

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