About Us

When we talk about us, we're primarily talking about "our" olive farmers who, with passion and dedication, produce top-quality olives and premium extra virgin olive oil. All of them are family businesses that have often cultivated their land with reverence and respect for generations. Olive farmers who understand that nature is their partner.

Always honest and delicious. Quality over quantity. All products are grown and harvested with respect for the environment. That's why almost all our products are organic, even though not all have a specific organic certificate. Such an EU certificate is often too expensive, too cumbersome, and too bureaucratic for a relatively small farmer. But they all produce honest, regional products that are produced as sustainably as possible. You can read more about our farmers on the " Our Farmers" page.

And of course, the farmers' products are "our" stars. Olives and olive oil have been consumed for over 6,000 years. Superior-quality extra virgin olive oil is practically a miracle. It's pure and incredibly healthy. It contains unsaturated fats and antioxidants such as polyphenols and vitamin E, among others. It has anti-inflammatory properties, and it's said to be beneficial for us to consume it daily. It's no wonder the Mediterranean diet, with its daily use of high-quality olive oil, is widely known as perhaps the healthiest diet in the world!

Finally, a little about us, Jack and Joyce. Our mission is to find truly good olive oil for our customers. Olive oil grown by farmers who understand that nature is their partner. Farmers with love and passion for their trees, olives, and olive oil. We started TheOliveLabel.shop because truly good extra virgin olive oil is a wonderful thing that belongs in every kitchen, especially in the Netherlands!

Olive oil is for everyone, young and old. It combines the power of the sun with the best the earth has to offer. It complements every dish, from yogurt and ice cream to salads, fish, and meat. Even our boring Dutch vegetables and potatoes benefit from it. However, premium extra virgin olive oil isn't easy to find, especially not at the supermarket, which is why we sell it. Never wholesale, always purchased directly from the farmer, straight to your plate in the Netherlands! Authentic, honest food!

I, Jack, was always searching for the olives and olive oil you only really knew from Mediterranean holidays. The olive oil in the Dutch supermarket was always so disappointing that it fascinated me. Why isn't olive oil in the supermarket good, and why is it so difficult to buy good olive oil in the Netherlands? I started delving deeper into olives and olive oil and became captivated by this wonderful world.

An intriguing network of farmers, legislation, fraud, and a global trade worth billions of dollars unfolded. It could easily be a gripping film.

After an olive oil tasting workshop by Marije Passos (Passeite), it became clear that I wanted to continue working with olives, and olive oil in particular. Marije is the Netherlands' first female olive oil sommelier, an olive farmer in Portugal, a professional olive oil taster, and a jury member at both the Amsterdam International Olive Oil Competition and the London IOOC.

I had sold my previous business, an online store selling Dutch (cargo) bikes to the US, to my business partner and was looking for something new. I used to be a tax lawyer at one of the big four accounting firms, but I managed to escape the corporate world. Many saw that as career suicide, but I enjoyed entrepreneurship much better. And how wonderful it is to be able to combine my passion for olives and olive oil with my business. The plan to start The Olive Label.shop was born. I immediately decided to take my family on an olive oil vacation. We went looking for olive farmers in France, Spain, and Italy.

We had no idea who or what we would encounter, but it was amazing. All the olive farmers, who often showed up without any prior notice, welcomed us with open arms. They immediately made time for us and passionately shared their knowledge about the trees, the olives, and their often local pride: extra virgin olive oil. We were invited to see the land and the trees and were given tours. And of course, we had to taste everything. Amazing. The passion and knowledge of these farmers is infectious!

But if you stay a little longer and ask a few questions, you'll discover that it's not all sunshine and roses there on the Mediterranean. A good harvest depends on so many factors that you wonder how things can even go well. Every season can be too cold, too wet, too dry, or too hot. And then there are the parasites and other creatures that eat your harvest or otherwise ruin it, such as the olive fly, beetles, and other insects. Especially in southern Italy, there's also a deadly bacterium that has felled millions of trees. And every year, there are floods, forest fires, and other disasters. Even if everything miraculously goes well and you have a good harvest, things can easily go wrong during the olive pressing process. On top of that, you have to deal with extremely complex European, national, and local regulations for farmers, high certification costs (organic, DOP, etc.), unpredictable prices for olive oil, energy, transport, packaging, salaries, and so on.

In the Netherlands, we often have a very romantic image of what it would be like to have an olive grove. Sitting in your grove with a glass of wine, waiting for the olives to ripen. But the reality is different. It's incredibly hard work, and even if the harvest is good, it often doesn't yield enough. If the harvest fails, you've worked for nothing for a year. As a small olive farmer, often a family business, it's tough to stay afloat in the world of olives and olive oil.

We have deep respect for these farmers, and it's our mission to get their wonderful extra virgin olive oil onto every kitchen table in the Netherlands. This is the extra virgin olive oil you know from your Mediterranean holidays, and it's very different from the olive oil you find in the supermarket. Those come from Deoleo, a publicly traded Spanish food producer that sells brands like Bertolli, Carapelli, and Carbonell to over 100 countries. This is mediocre Spanish bulk oil in an Italian-style bottle. More about that in our blog post about supermarket olive oil .

Every man needs a strong woman, and in my case, that woman is Joyce. Joyce is a production designer for film and TV with a passion for storytelling through images and writing. Joyce and her company, WonderenWonder.nl , are the creative directors at The Olive Label.shop. Together, we share a love for the Mediterranean lifestyle, beautiful extra virgin olive oil, and entrepreneurship. It's a wonderful combination to passionately introduce everyone to fantastic extra virgin olive oil through The Olive Label.shop. What more can we say? Welcome to the wonderful world of olive oil, and let our products do the talking. Enjoy!

O'Lives Great