City Centre olive oil shop looking to build a loyal customer base
Unlike their neighbors in Houston’s Energy Corridor, shopkeepers Wayde and Susan Burt rely on something other than crude oil for income: olive oil.
The two own Olive Vine, a store in City Centre, the west-side, mixed-use development of stores, restaurants and apartments.
According to Wayde Burt, inventory is limited on purpose. There are 20 kinds of olive oil and 20 types of balsamic vinegars. Prices are set at $9.95 for a 200 ml bottle and $17.95 for a 375 ml bottle for either an olive oil or vinegar. Customers are encouraged to try a product before they buy it, then watch as it’s bottled.
“We didn’t pick City Centre for the walk-in traffic,” Wayde Burt said. “We’re basing the business on repeat customers.”
“Most people spend 20 minutes in the store,” his wife added. “If anything, they say it’s overwhelming because there’s a lot to choose from.”
Betsy Gelb, a University of Houston professor of marketing and entrepreneurship, said the timing could be right for the couple.
“We’re living in a world of cupcake stores, so I don’t see specialization like this as a problem,” she said. “People want to hark back to their image of the European way of shopping for olive oil at one store, then going to the butcher for their meat, and so on. There are certainly more efficient ways to shop, but they’re not necessarily as fun.”
Tables in the 877-square-foot store are stocked with large stainless-steel drums that hold balsamic vinegars, such as cinnamon pear and peach mist, and extra-virgin olive oil infused with ingredients like lemon, roasted garlic and sweet basil.
Wayde Burt said that, in addition to locals, the store attracts foreign clients from nearby Hotel Sorella.
“They won’t cross over into the flavor-infused olive oil,” he said, “because they think that’s only for those crazy Americans.”
The Burts say their customers appreciate their comprehensive knowledge of olive oil and vinegars, though Susan Burt admits it makes hiring outside staff hard. For now, the couple divides the seven-days-a-week schedule by splitting shifts. Each works about 40 hours a week, down from 80 hours when the store opened in April, Wayde Burt said.
“While I wouldn’t worry about having a specialized product, I would worry about getting the word out,” said Gelb. “I don’t have any qualms that they’re able to convert people to customers once they come through the doors – because if you go into a store that sells olive oil, you’re at least interested in the product – but it’s getting them through the doors that counts.”
Wayde Burt said the couple relies on word-of-mouth and public events put on by City Centre, such as food and wine festivals. They also worked with local restaurants like Bistro Alex and Ruggles Green to get their items included on the menu.
The Burts owned an herb farm in Pearland for 10 years and sold herbs from around the world. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Wayde Burt said, the couple could no longer import fresh herbs quickly enough to “get fresh herbs to our customers within 48 hours.”
The couple discovered an alternative source for fresh herbs in Maui. Ready for a change, they moved the family to Mt. Haleakala, where the high altitude was matched by equally high labor costs. They spent two years there before returning to Houston in 2010.
“It was a break-even proposition for us,” Wayde Burt said.
The Burts also stage private tastings. Wayde Burt expects more than $300,000 in first-year gross revenues.
“Of course we were concerned when we opened, because everyone wonders when they open a store if anyone will come,” Burt said. “The nice thing is that we’ve seen our volume triple since Thanksgiving, when we’d thought it’d only double during the holidays.”
“We probably average 50 people a day looking for olive oil,” Susan Burt said. “Primarily women, but really, we get all kinds of people in here.”
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