Janell's Story:
After traveling abroad for almost 15 years, she decided to hang up her passport for a while and return home to teach ESL at a local Bay Area Community College. As fate would have it, she was faced with hard times as so many people were in 2008 and decided to finally embrace entrepreneurship after finding love. She and her partner co-founded an olive oil shop in Noe Valley in 2012 and that is when OLIVE THIS OLIVE THAT WAS BORN!
But it wasn’t easy sailing from the start and there was a huge learning curve. Right away, she discovered the difference between commodity oil and boutique oil. She learned that lesson the hard way; but with each lesson along the way, she has gained more knowledge and her mission today is to help people have more aha moments in the kitchen versus uh-oh moments.
She took a deep dive into sensory education with the California Olive Oil Council (COOC). After many years of committed tasting and education, she was invited to become an apprentice with the COOC sensory panel and eventually went on to become a certified panel member and is considered one of the most knowledgeable olive oil experts in the Bay Area and has been featured in Food + Wine magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, 7×7 magazine, and numerous other local Bay Area publications.
In 2020, she partnered up with fellow olive oil sommelier Erin Ridley and launched a high-end olive brand, PRMRY with the mission to make it easier to choose, use, and enjoy Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
It's been 12 years since the opening of Olive This Olive That and she is so grateful for all of the support and love the shop has received from this lovely community over the years.