Branching Out

Bad Dog Jelly from Georgetown.

His timing has been favorable in terms of the nation’s growing interest in olive oil, the Mediterranean diet, and the health benefts of both. Since 2000, olive oil sales have more doubled in the U.S.

“I liked it because it is healthy for people,” Utgaard says. “Tere are all kinds of health benefts associated with using olive oil. You can look these up online of course, but the most important one is generally, you get a longer life.”

Tinking like the business strategist that he is, Utgaard also liked the upsides of a consumable product. “It had a reasonably decent margin. Tere was a lot of physical work, but I’m very strong still. And it’s a consumable, disposable product so people buy it, and if they like it, they come back and buy it again.”

Tat’s what he’s fnding these days, more than a decade afer opening the frst store in Hamburg. In those days, he would take his Yorkshire terrier out in front of the store, hoping to lure people over to pet the cute little dog while he talked to them about the store with the hope they would