Olive Oils from Spain Courts Foodservice with EVOO Varietal Push

Olive Oils from Spain staged a chef-forward tasting dinner at The Musket Room in New York on Oct. 15, making the case to culinary professionals that Spanish extra virgin olive oil is a differentiated ingredient category — not a commodity — with meaningful implications for menu development and back-of-house sourcing decisions.

The event, part of the organization's ongoing All in a Drop campaign, was co-hosted by James Beard Award-winning chef and cookbook author Andy Baraghani and led by Nicholas Coleman, Co-Founder and Oleologist at Grove and Vine, who guided food writers and culinary creators through a structured tasting of three commercially relevant Spanish EVOO varietals. Chef de Cuisine Noah Ponjuan of The Musket Room designed an exclusive four-course menu showcasing each oil's distinct flavor profile.

The Three Varietals

For foodservice operators evaluating Spanish EVOO as a finishing oil, bread-service staple, or LTO differentiator, Coleman's varietal breakdown offers a practical sourcing framework. Olive Oils from Spain — the global promotional arm of the Spanish Olive Oil Interprofessional Organization — positioned three cultivars as kitchen workhorses:

- Arbequina, smooth and fruity with apple and almond notes, suits dessert applications and delicate proteins.
- Hojiblanca, a balanced, grassy Andalusian variety with light pepper, performs across salads, roasted vegetables, and grilled fish — high utility for broad menu programming.
- Picual, the most assertive of the three, brings robust bitterness and a fresh-tomato-vine aroma suited to red meat, hearty roasted dishes, and high-intensity flavor builds.

Spain holds the title of world's largest olive oil producer, with more than 200 recognized olive varieties. Coleman noted that leading Spanish producers operate temperature-controlled extraction mills that bridge artisan tradition with industrial-grade quality control — a point relevant to buyers managing consistency across multi-unit programs.

Operator Angle

The evening was framed around sobremesa, the Spanish post-meal tradition of lingering at the table — a positioning move that aligns Spanish EVOO with the experiential dining narrative gaining traction across full-service and polished-casual segments. For operators, the practical read is simpler: premium finishing oils command a visible role in bread service and tableside presentation, both of which support per-cover check averages without significant labor cost.

Chef Ponjuan noted that Spanish EVOOs are already embedded in The Musket Room's bread service and cooking applications, signaling traction at the independent fine-dining tier. The broader opportunity for chain operators lies in leveraging varietal specificity — listing Arbequina or Picual by name on menus — as a low-cost differentiation lever, a tactic that has worked for operators in the olive, vinegar, and specialty cheese categories.

Teresa Pérez Millán, General Manager of the Spanish Olive Oil Interprofessional, emphasized the ingredient's range beyond conventional savory applications, pointing to dessert finishes and cocktail integration as emerging dayparts for premium EVOO. For beverage directors and pastry teams, that versatility expands the SKU's contribution across more menu occasions.

For supply-chain context, Spanish EVOO has benefited from relatively stable Iberian harvests compared to volatile Italian and Greek production cycles in recent seasons — a reliability factor that procurement teams at multi-unit operators increasingly weigh alongside price when qualifying supplier relationships. Coverage of ingredient sourcing trends and supply-chain strategy for foodservice operators is ongoing at /category/supply-chain, and broader culinary trend reporting can be found at /category/menu-trends.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.