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 The story of Arnaud olives is one of a family business, handed down from father to son for more than half a century.
The Arnaud olive story began in the heart of one of France’s most beautiful Provencal villages, Fontvieille-en-Provence. There, on ‘La Grande Rue’ Marius Arnaud and his son Andre (then 17 years old) began their work curing local olives. The local olives of the Vallée des Baux (the solonenque and blanquette varieties) were already in high demand among food connoisseurs in Provence and beyond. Typically these olive varieties were cured, seasoned with fennel and shipped throughout France. Early customers included fine shops in Paris whose owners eagerly awaited the annual crop of Arnaud Vallee des Baux olives.
The olive ‘season’ began with the picking of olives in early September, with curing, final seasoning and delivery in mid-December. Then, and now the arrival of cured fresh olives was part of the happy celebration of the holidays. Everyone in the Arnaud family ‘rolled up their sleeves’ to participate in this happy but laborious annual event.
After several years in business, the Arnaud family began enjoying a growing reputation far from their village – and greater demand among Paris’s fine shops and restaurants for their outstanding olives. The customer list was growing, too and during the ‘quiet season’, after the fresh harvest, the second Arnaud son, Louis joined the business to help guide the company’s growth. New curing facilities were developed to accommodate the expanding business.
The hard frost of 1956 devastated olive tress in Provence. Many olive growers gave up on their olive businesses, turning instead to hardier grape vines and the production of wine. The Arnauds remained committed, however, and turned to North Africa where the moderate climate would ensure a good supply and wider variety of olives. The fresh olives of Algeria were especially well-liked in France. The Arnauds cured and seasoned them in the style of the ‘Olives de Nimes’. These became hugely successful.
Keeping pace with the continuous expansion of business the Arnauds moved from traditional curing of fresh olives to classic pasteurization, allowing their products to reach far-away markets without spoiling. The first export market was the UK, where quickly the signature bright red and green lithographed Arnaud 9 lb. tins of pasteurized olives started appear. Son, many London food shops boasted of ‘Imported” Arnaud olives from France. The new Arnaud brand name, ‘Le Moulin de Marie’, a tribute to Alphonse Daudet’s windmill in Fontvieille, first appeared this year.
Early success in the UK encouraged the Arnaud family to begin to reach-out to distant markets with their new pasteurized olives. The US market was launched in 1987 with a modest 100 case order that would grow quickly to many metric tons per year. Exporting became a new and exciting chapter in the family’s history. In this year the company began sale of their olives in Holland, Switzerland and Germany. All proved to be successful markets.
In 1994 the Arnauds pushed-on to even farther-away markets: Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore. Andre Arnaud’s young boys Pierre and Philippe approached their early twenties and took their place in the family business. The passage of the business from father to sons ensured continuity of product quality and management.
The Arnaud olive story is continuously unfolding story of family dedication to a business that continues to find receptive markets worldwide.
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