Our Stall in Cork's English Market

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In 1993, we set up our original Real Olive Company stall in Cork's English Market. To this day, the market is still our permanent base. 

Here we sell our full range of Mediterranean products, including olives, extra virgin olive oils, aged balsamic vinegars, European cheeses, sundried tomatoes, Iberico cured meats, various pickles, dried fruits, and much much more. We also stock the entire Toons Bridge Dairy range of cheeses, all made in small productions at our dairy using fresh, local, raw cow and sheep's milk. We've always got samples on the go, so pop in and have a taste! 

We are closed on Sundays, bank holidays and for a few days over Christmas. See our Facebook page for updates!

For more about the English Market, click here! 

  

 

OUR STORY

The First Stall 

The Real Olive Company began life in 1993 in Cork’s English Market, when Toby Simmonds, at the age of twenty, took a small stall at the Princes Street end of the market. The stall began with just ten varieties of olives and a few other Mediterranean foods. The Cork public were equally suprised and bemused by this addition to the market, and a common enquiry was “what kind of grapes are you selling?" However the arrival of the Olive Stall into the market coincided with a number of other diversifications from the traditional fare, including two cheese stalls and the charcuterie of On The Pigs Back. Cork, and Ireland in general was opening up to an array of new foods and tastes. Later The Real Olive Company moved to a bigger corner stall towards the Grand Parade entrance.

Markets Across The Country 

In 1994, The Real Olive Company lauched its first van onto the street markets of Ireland. It was a fifteen year old battered Toyota Hiace, and it served it's purpose. Starting in Galway’s St Nicholas market, The Real Olive Company set about bringing olives to the rest of the country. Over the years, The Real Olive Company has participated in over 35 markets nationwide. 

Where It All Comes From 

The Real Olive Company still uses their very first olive supplier, who instilled values in the company that are the cornerstone of the business today. Their supplier is an extensive market trader in the South West of Germany and Eastern France, and only works with independent market traders. The Real Olive Company and their supplier both believe that markets offer the best place to sell foods that are outside of the mass produced industry foods which line the supermarket shelves. Their supplier has long held connections to communities all over the Mediterranean, with whom he has been dealing with for over thirty years. The Real Olive Company has also been cultivating relationships by going directly to a number of producers, resulting in them significantly extended their range of produce over the years. 

A Passion For Quality!

The Real Olive Company strives to present their customers with both value and the best quality. They go to huge lengths to source products that are natural and not packed with additives. They never use refined oils on any of our products, and have only dealt in extra virgin olive oils from regional producers or cooperatives. The Real Olive Company pride themselves on being able to sell olives that the supermarkets could not sell, and have introduced Irish palates to many foods that could only ever have been found in their native countries. They have diversified into other related projects over the years, but their core business is still the importing and sale through markets of the finest Mediterranean foods that they can source.