Soap makers that run a small business or work at home want to save money on olive oil-- just like every business owner does. Olive oil is an expensive ingredient, and can significantly affect the cost of your finished product.

Why You Shouldn’t Buy Just 1 Olive Oil Drum From a Large Supplier

Packaging Can Affect Your Bottom Line

We work with purchasers buying bulk olive oil on a daily basis. One of my favorite questions to receive is about bulk packaging. Switching to more efficient packaging size is one of the easiest ways to save money, but it is under-utilized by the vast majority of US manufacturing companies.

The majority of manufacturing companies use 55 gallon drums. My first suggestion is always to consider a larger tote size. These totes are available in both the standard plastic with an aluminum frame, and in a Box-in-Box version (my personal favorite).

Why I Prefer 330 Gallon Bag-In-Box Totes (And Why You Should Too!)

A price for bulk olive oil can be quoted ‘F.O.B.’ or ‘Delivered’.  Have you ever wondered what those terms mean?  A clear understanding is very important to allow you to to do accurate cost comparisons.

F.O.B. Pricing

F.O.B. stands for “Freight on Board” or “Free on Board” depending on who you ask.  This term indicates who pays the transportation costs.  

In the bulk edible oil industry, the biggest mistake we see manufacturers’ making is purchasing 1-2 drums of olive oil at a time, instead of ordering full pallets of 4 drums.  

For some buyers, it is a no-brainer always buy full pallets, but others choose to simply buy what they need at the moment.  

Here’s Why They’re Losing Money By Ordering Only 1 Drum:

There is a common perception related to Olive Oils that are imported from Italy; people assume that they're higher quality than those from their Mediterranean neighbors, Spain.  Interestingly, there is no direct correlation between higher quality oils when you compare these two beautiful countries' output. 

The bulk of Americans buying soap in grocery stores have no clue about the major benefits of soap that is made with olive oil, but it is well worth the extra investment.  If you have dry or sensitive skin, for instance, the attributes of olive oils will actually help to soften or soothe the skin (the technical term for it is "emollient").

Studies published in the European Journal of Cancer indicate that eating too much cheese on a regular basis can increase chances of bladder cancer; however, the good news for Olive Oil lovers is that daily consumption of Olive Oils can halve the probability.

Olive oil adulteration has been a long-standing issue in the olive oil industry.  Adulteration, also known as “cutting” is the practice of diluting olive oil by blending it with cheaper, low-quality oils like hazelnut,  canola or soybean into olive oil and marketing it as 100% olive oil.  Often, this process includes dying and flavoring the cheaper oils so that they look and taste like olive oil.  However, the cut product lacks all of the health benefits found in the genuine product.

While many assume that because this practice is wildly illegal, it must have been prevented long ago.  Unfortunately, that is not the case.  The sad fact is that the FDA simply does not have the resources required to make testing olive oil and preventing adulteration a priority at this time.

We often get asked whether we are suppliers of bulk Extra Virgin Olive Oils that meet Halal standards.  Therefore, we thought it would be worthwhile to post a Halal statement online. 

While we are a bulk supplier of authentic olive oil, we do like to provide resources from time to time for small businesses who create their own oils from scratch and sell at the retail level. 

The University of California, Davis has released two provocative studies on olive oil. Their findings show that up to two-thirds of the olive oils labeled as Extra Virgin on American grocery store shelves would not pass nationally and/or internationally accepted quality standards.

Since Tom Mueller's article, Slippery Business was featured in the New Yorker in 2007, Mueller has become known as an industry expert within the "olive oil world."  In December of 2011 his most recent book, Extra Virginity, was published detailing the striking disparity between the wonderful and fraudulent practices occurring across the industry. Since then, he's been a highlight on various news venues like Yahoo! News and National Public Radio.  His research is becoming a hot topic with olive oil suppliers and consumers across the world.  See our founder's book review, below:

Extra Virginity:  The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil

Working closely with bulk and wholesale olive oil buyers across the United States, I am privileged to have the latest industry trends revealed to me even before they’ve fully emerged in the marketplace.  Everyday, I speak with buyers from a variety of industries: wholesale distributors, natural grocers, food service companies and local co-ops.  I receive a plethora of requests for olive oil and have the opportunity to uncover the latest “food fashions.”


The newest trend: In-Store Bulk Dispensers of Olive Oil, found in Italian markets and large grocery chains. While this phenomenon has been around for some time in local co-ops, it's popularity has spread to mainstream stores with the growth of the specialty retail olive oil store.

While dry bulk food items have been available at your natural foods co-op and regional grocery chain for years, it’s taken some time for liquid ingredients to be offered with the same propensity.  It’s been proven to me that olive oil will be the product to change all that.