Entrepreneur Taking Olives To Next Level
Dana Parson was looking for something to eat that would satisfy his craving for hot and spicy foods when the idea hit him: habanero-marinated olives.
The construction worker bought some green, pimento-stuffed olives at a supermarket, added some of his home-grown habanero chiles to the brine, let the concoction sit and liked the result.
“I started taking them to work and my buddies were eating so many they offered to buy some from me,” said Parson, 41.
He didn’t stop there.
“I was cooking steak on the grill one night, and I like the smoked flavor. So I started using liquid smoke on the olives.” His co-workers liked that flavor, too.
He thought there might be a market for his marinated olives, so last year he formed a company — Bridgeview Olives. It was named for an iron bridge on his Avon, Ill., property that was built in the late 1800s.
Bridgeview now has six flavors of olives. Besides Hot Toppers (habanero) and Smoked, there is Western, Pizza, Sweet-Hot and Tamale.
Western has garlic, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce “and other flavors you might put on a steak,” Parson said. Pizza is infused with garlic, basil and a host of Italian flavors.
Sweet-Hot is a fusion of sweet and savory with a burst of heat. Tamale has the Mexican spices of a tamale, but Parson describes it as having the mildest flavor in his lineup.
“People who like black olives would like the Tamale,” he said.
The flavored olives can be eaten out of hand, or nestled in a relish tray. Sliced, they can top foods like baked potatoes, tacos, nachos, steaks, pasta and salads. And they can give a new twist to a martini.
Parson sees the possibilities, but his company is new and he’s trying to figure out how to proceed.
“I would like to see them on all the store shelves that I possibly can. You go into a grocery store now and you see green olives and black olives. That’s it. I’d like to see my six flavors there. Restaurants might want them, too. They would be great on a salad bar.”
Photo by Bridgeview Olives.
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