Olive oil producer Olive Oak Ranch--whose primary outlet for sales is Amazon.com--switches to plastic bottles from glass bottles following rule cited by Amazon.com to Olive Oak Ranch that limits acceptance of anything liquid in glass containers over 4 oz.

Elyse Blye

VICTORIA, British Columbia , April 18, 2014 (press release) – California Gourmet Extra Virgin Olive Oil producer, Olive Oak Ranch, whose primary outlet for their premium extra virgin olive oil is through Amazon, has been forced to make a switch to plastic bottles for the industry giant to fulfill its orders.

Amazon, the leader in online sales restricted the olive oil producer to proceed with further shipments to its distribution centers citing their rule that limits the acceptance of anything liquid in glass containers over 4 ounces. At the time of this report, there are at least 25 items being fulfilled by Amazon containing liquid in glass containers over 4 oz so there does seem to be disparity on Amazon’s restrictive ruling over certain manufactures.

Facing the prospect of loosing sales on Amazon, this northern California premium olive oil producer took the challenge to switch to plastic and along the way discovered advantages without changing the inherent quality of their product.

What were discovered were not only a suitable replacement but also advantages in the choice of a plastic container for their award-winning product.

Dave Friend Sr. the patriarch and chief-orchard and marketing architect of the family run enterprise stated “We were extremely concerned with the choice of switching over to a plastic container and how it would affect the taste and over all perception of our product to our customers. What we discovered was an alternate material and package that met all the aesthetic concerns and the primary concern of taste”. The taste issue was addressed with a blind taste testing using glass and the new choice plastic bottles at Olive Oak’s weekly customer and employee marketing get together.

Aimee Foyil, domestic products nutritional chef for Honestly Argan added, “I have always felt the best possible packaging for food products should be glass. After trying all the different EVOO products there were absolutely no taste difference from glass and the plastic packaging”.

The choice was made to switch to a lightweight, shatterproof, 100% recyclable BPA free product. The California wine industry has been using the same product since the early 2000’s. Another unforeseen advantage is due to the weight difference compared to glass the company is able to ship 750 ml bottles for about the same weight as the old 500 ml glass bottles.

Dave Friend Jr, logistics and warehouse manager, “we have been able to realize additional positives through this transition that we never would have been able to gain had we not been faced with this perceived dilemma. We now have a product that is easier to re-cycle than glass (uses less energy). Are able to pass on shipping savings directly to our customers and reducing the overall carbon footprint of being able to ship more products for the same amount of energy, a win-win for all”.

Author Bio: Charles Alexander, California culinary reporter for iEVOO.com

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