Branches Olive Oil Company

Hi, it's John Elyse with Century 21 Award. Welcome to another edition of Mission Viejo on the Move. And today we're at Branch's Olive Oil on Via Fabricante in Mission Viejo. And in just a moment we're going to sit down and have a chat with the owner, Daniel Sullivan. Let's get going. Well, Daniel, thank you very much for having me here at Branch's. I'm looking forward to finding out all about your company. So let's get started. Tell me a little bit how you got into the business. Yeah. So I actually grew up in the fine dining industry. So this was kind of a natural extension of that. I mean, I grew up, my family's business distributed to all the nicest restaurants in North Carolina. And so I grew up, Right. So that was my normal group into that when mom was a chef. My older brother became a professional chef in the culinary school. And a chef that we served, and he was a good family friend of ours too on the coast of North Carolina, he owned a few dedicated oil and vinegar shops. And you mentioned them. It was always kind of in the back of my head to do something similar, to kind of do my own version of that here in Orange County. And I met with him last s He gave me kind of a full download of his business. And I thought, well, I'm going to do it. I'm going to keep taking steps towards it. And if a door closes, the door will close, but I just kept taking the steps and never closed in here. So how did you end up in Mission Viejo? I moved out here a little over two and a half years ago. I started with Ernst & Young. I was a CPA. It's kind of my trade. And I fell in love with Southern California when I was a teenager because I was already a surfer. I grew up surfing in North Carolina and just an outdoorsman, And visiting a place where the mountains existed, within a stone's throw of the ocean, rocked my world. Definitely. And my dad kind of put a bug in my ear when I was a teenager and said, And you graduate school. And that stuck with me since I was 16. It was always my dream and I just made it happen. And then when did you open the shop? I officially opened the shop December 16th at Lefterst & Young in October to pursue it full-time. So let's talk about customer experience. So customer walks in the door, what are they expecting? What are their expectations? And what do they find out when they get here? Yeah. So I get a wide range of customers. Like, Again, they're comfortable here. They're familiar with this realm. I get some who didn't know olive oil was such a wide world. I walk them through the store, I give them a tour of all the products, everything that I've curated from around the country or around the world. And then kind of give them a quick overview of the oils that I have, of why oils can taste different depending on where they're from, a variety of olive that's being pressed, different flavors that you can infuse with the oils. And then I kind of try to get a feel for what their culinary style is. What are they making a lot of? Are they doing more salad? Are they using a grill? Are they using a stove top? And then I basically just want to give them combinations of oil and vinegar to taste that will complement what they're already doing well in the kitchen and elevate it. So the olive oil is the obvious product and you mentioned the vinegars. Tell me a little bit about the process of how these oils and vinegars are flavored or enhanced, I guess, whatever the word is. So there's two methods of flavor infusion, two primary methods. One is flavor crushed. So for example, I have some oils, garlic and jalapeno, where the garlic and jalapeno are crushed with the olives in the same press as the olives at the same time. So it's just a very natural combination of the oils. I have other oils They're crushed separately and then infused together. Tell me what goes on with the special events and things. So yeah, we're still pretty young, so people are just now learning kind of in the surrounding area that this base is for rent, Folks will come in, It could be a birthday party, it could be a concert, it could be a networking event. We're doing a networking event next week. It could be an educational kind of corporate presentation and we kind of do it all. But it's really fun because I have such a heart for hospitality and just hosting people in my space. And I try to steward this space to be a warm and welcoming place. So it's really fun for me. So what about special products or gift baskets? If a client comes in and wants to send a gift maybe for appreciation, client appreciation or a wedding gift or something Yeah, so that's one of our specialties. So we do a lot of customized gifts and gift wrappings for businesses giving client gifts or just friends or family. Pick out an assortment of oils, vinegars, chocolate, honey, jams, etc. And we'll shrink wrap it around the board, And in some cases we'll even deliver it by car if it's a local client or we'll ship it. The other cool thing we do is if. . . Yeah, throw us that bottle. Talk about that earlier. So this is a remodeler's personal logo. And so we have a commercial grade label in-house here. So if you want your logo on the bottle, your name or your n This also works for wedding favors. So how do you interact with the community right here at Mission VA? A big part of this idea was to create a space that can function as a space where community and family can happen, but it'self-sustaining. We don't need the community itself's money to get this going because it's a business, so it'sustaining itself. So every Friday night, actually every other Friday night now, we have a gospel house here, which is Christians mostly millennials, but all ages. We've recorded music here. We've done full concerts here. I mean, this is a multi-purpose place. This is a good spot. It's really comfortable when you walk in. I think you've done a really nice job on the build-out. Just the little sitting setting that we're at right now is a good space just for a conversation. And that's the other thing. I'm trying to get the word out to that, And I make my own cold brew and I make tea and stuff. And so my friends know this, of course, so they'll come in here and they'll do work. A lot of them work remotely, so they'll come in here and they'll get me the Wi-Fi and work. You don't have to come here and feel guilty if you're not buying product. You can just come and hang out, So that kind of ties in with location. Tell everybody how to find branches. Okay, so the address here is 23854 via Fabricante. The street is off of Alisha, close to the five. It's easy access, easy in and out. Right next to Alan Tire and the Pest Supply Warehouse, as well as the Blonte Family Wining. How about on the internet, what's your website information and any social media channels that you have? Branchesoliveoil. com is our website. We have all of our oils and vinegar on there. We're actually on Groupon as well. We're on Facebook, we're on Instagram. For events, Well, Daniel, thank you so much for spending some time with me today. Yes, sir. I look forward to coming back here to Branches and checking on some more products. Have a great day. Thank you very much for being part of this video series. Glad to have you. Thank you for having me. Well, If Thanks again for watching this episode of Mission Viejo on the Move, right here at Branches Olive Oil. I'll see you on the next video. Bye-bye.