Today we’d like to introduce you to Sharon Streb.
Hi Sharon, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’ve had a few different chapters before this. I was a nurse, then an interior designer, and I always knew I wanted to do something on my own. I just didn’t know what that would look like yet.
After some big life changes, I read Eat Pray Love and decided to move to Italy. I was accepted into a design program to work on my master’s, but something unexpected happened. I fell in love with olive oil. Not just using it, but really understanding it. I ended up going to professional olive oil school while I was there, which was not part of the original plan at all.
When I came back to the States, I couldn’t shake the feeling. I loved the small gourmet food shops in Italy. The way they felt. The way people shopped and cooked. I wanted to bring a piece of that here.
So in 2014, I opened my first store as part of a small franchise from the Netherlands. A few years in, I realized I wanted to do it my way. In 2018, I left the franchise, stayed in the same space, and rebranded as Olive & Basket.
This is really my third career. Nursing, interior design, and now this. I also spent some time in the military along the way. It’s been a winding road, but this is the one that finally feels like mine.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it has not been a smooth road. Not even close.
I had never owned a business before, so there was a big learning curve right from the start. The franchise helped in the beginning, but once I left that, I was on my own. I had to figure out how to source products, work with suppliers, and import items. That was all new to me.
And then there’s everything else. Marketing, emails, social media, running a website. None of that was part of my background. I had to learn it as I went. And the hard part is, it keeps changing. What worked a few years ago doesn’t always work now.
I also started this later in life. I was in my early fifties when I opened the store, and I’m in my sixties now. So I’ve been learning and adapting the whole time.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Olive & Basket is a specialty food shop focused on high quality olive oils and vinegars. That’s really the heart of what I do. Everything is sourced from small producers, and most of the olive oils are made on the estates where the olives are grown.
What makes us a little different is that I don’t just sell products. I spend a lot of time helping people understand how to use them. A lot of customers walk in thinking olive oil is just olive oil. It’s not. Once they taste it and start cooking with it, it changes how they eat at home.
We’re known for our fresh olive oils, our flavored oils, and our balsamic vinegars from Italy. Garlic Olive Oil has been our number one seller for years. Mango Pulp Vinegar is another favorite. But more than that, people come back because they know they’re getting something good and they know how to use it.
The store itself is a bit of an adventure. You never quite know what you’re going to find. I carry everything from chocolates to pasta, all from small producers. A lot of these makers don’t want to be big, or they’re in that in between stage where they don’t fit into large retail. Shops like mine give them a place to be.
That part matters to me. When people shop here, they’re not just buying something to eat. They’re helping keep small makers in business too.
I also carry other gourmet foods, but everything has to earn its place. If it’s on the shelf, it’s something I would use myself.
What I’m most proud of is that this has become a place people trust. People come in for a gift, or for themselves, and they leave with something they’re excited to use. And then they come back and tell me what they made with it. That part never gets old.
At the end of the day, I want people to cook a little more, eat a little better, and enjoy it. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Good ingredients do a lot of the work for you.
What does success mean to you?
When I see the same faces walk through the door again, that tells me I’m doing something right. And when people leave happy, or even a little excited about what they just bought, that matters.
Food has always been tied to memories for me. Big dinners, Sundays, my parents having people over. It brings people together. And when you cook for someone or give food as a gift, it says something. It shows you care.
So I love when someone finds the right gift, or something they’re excited to make at home. And even more when they come back and tell me how much they loved it, or how the person they gave it to loved it.
That’s success.
It’s not really about how much you make. It’s about whether what you’re doing makes people happy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://oliveandbasket.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oliveandbasket/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oliveandbasket/
