Ventura County Star:
Owner: Steve Tobey.
Product or service: California-certified extra virgin olive oils, gourmet vinegars, tapenades, salsas, pestos, pastas, soap and skin-care products, ceramics, decanters, candles, linens and other gourmet food and gift products.
Location: 294 E. Main Street, Ventura.
Date established: November 2008.
Hours open: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Telephone: 648-6166.
E-mail: weoliveventura[@]gmail[.]com
Employees: 1 full time and 3 part time.
Franchise fee: $18,000.
Estimated annual gross revenue: $125,000 to $150,000.
Questions to Steve Tobey: What prompted you to start your own business? The ongoing demands of physical labor, the economic downturn affecting residential construction and my desire to work with the public all prompted my decision to change career paths at this time.
What is your educational and career background? I left college just a few credits shy of an accounting degree realizing that I was ill-suited to a desk job. I’ve enjoyed the creativity involved in residential construction for the past 30 years and became a licensed general contractor more than 20 years ago.
Read on…
Photo: Juan Carlo | Star staff.