Olive company offers gourmet treats

Picnic season is rolling around again in Sisters and a new business is ready to fill your basket with some gourmet delicacies.

Sisters Olive & Nut Co., located on the ground floor of The Grand Palace Hotel (The Palace) offers 50 or more varieties of its namesake olives.

But there’s a lot more: more than 50 varieties of nuts, award-winning Wisconsin sausages, cheeses, wines — everything you need for a nice spread either on the picnic blanket or at home.

Owners Susan and Kevin King decided to launch their olive emporium after looking into business opportunities for Susan.

Kevin said, “I took a trip to The Olive Pit in Corning, California, and the idea sprang from there.”

Olives are a lot more than just a garnish on a salad or a pizza.

There are seemingly endless varieties of stuffed creations, from traditional pimento-stuffed green olives to olives stuffed with habañero peppers (only for those blessed with asbestos mouths).

“The number-one seller is the garlic-stuffed,” Susan said.

The olives sold at Sisters Olive Co. are not the little grape-sized morsels found at any deli.

They are huge, and round and full of flavor.

“We have them out for samples every day and people say they are the best they’ve ever had,” Kevin King said.

While Sisters Olive Co. is fully stocked with olives, there are actually about 100 more to choose from.

“We would like to have all 150 varieties,” Susan said.

But she won’t settle for just any olive.

“We’re very particular,” she said.

Susan and Kevin have five children and want families to feel comfortable bringing their kids in to the shop.

Kevin is an excavator, who moved to Sisters eight years ago to get out of the Willamette Valley rain.

Susan is a self-described people person and finds working in a retail shop a wonderful way to connect with new people.

Sisters Olive & Nut Co. offers custom gift baskets with your choice of cheeses, wines, chocolates— and, of course, olives.

Give Susan 24 hours notice and she will create a basket that looks wonderful — with contents that please the palate.

For more information call 549-8047.