Our Story Byron Bay Olive Co

Our Story

Our founder and owner, Antoine Quezel grew up in Sanary-Sur-Mer, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region
in southeastern France.

His parents had a daily market stall where they sold a variety of olives, garlic and spices at the daily Sanary Farmers Market since 1989 with our authentic French family recipes.

"I grew up with my parents' stall, from a young child to a teenager, working for them when I could. My first job at the market was to scoop the spices for customers when I was 5 years old. And much of my childhood was spent exploring and helping my parents."

PICTURED : Antoine's father and mother at their stall

Sanary-Sur-Mer, France

Sanary-Sur-Mer, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France is a small village and a very active farmers market, lots of loud stallholders, unique and particular customers, and a great sense of community. Italians were bringing their meats and cheeses from Italy (being so close to the border), stallholders were sharing their produce and creations.

The smells of the olives, the freshest fruit, vegetables, fish and meats all built Antoine's appreciation for the finer flavours and quality ingredients.

And the knowledge, skills and recipes come from my family and has been shared through generations.

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Arriving in Byron

In 2014 Antoine first arrived in Byron Bay and it was one of those perfect days where the water glistened -
and the surf was pumping.

Visiting the markets in the area, Antoine noticed that none really offered olives or Mediterranean flavours.

"So I opened our first market stall at Bangalow markets in June, 2015."

"We sold out all of our stock and realised how much the local area desired quality olives and other Mediterranean products".

From there Byron Bay Olive Co grew the number of stalls that we served at each week, with various Farmer and Community Markets.

Byron Bay and beyond

From those beginning markets we have now grown to share our products at 20 market stalls a week from Sydney to the Gold Coast.

‘The support from the local community as we’ve grown as a business has been great. We are extremely grateful for the relationship we have built with our customers –
the result of our hard work throughout the years.’

We know that Australians have introduced many Mediterranean recipes into their diet for health reasons, as well as sharing with friends and family.

"Our customers value the quality of our products because they know we select them carefully to create amazing recipes".

Our Shop

In 2018 we opened La Cusine, our French Deli, out the front of our kitchen, in the Byron Industrial Estate.

La Cuisine offers all of Byron Bay Olive Co. products besides breakfast and lunch options, such as sandwiches, soups, pastries, and other Mediterranean delights.

Our customers tell us that our sandwiches are the best in Byron Bay.

We make them with fresh sourdough ciabatta using ingredients from the Byron Bay Olive Co. range such as sweet garlic, tapenade and sundried tomatoes and fresh veggies from local farmers.