Chef Interviews,  DC,  Food

Local DC Chef Launches a New Food Brand to Get Us Back Around the Table

Et Oliva inspires a connection and reconnection with food and each other.

Travel often introduces us to new adventures, new cultures, and new foods. A smell or taste can transport us back to our favorite travel memories. Patrick Karsu, a chef of 15 years, is of Irish descent, but his partner is Turkish, and the inspiration for et Oliva. After many trips throughout the Mediterranean, Patrick and his partner longed for fresh food and bright flavors but couldn’t find them at home. Patrick took matters into his own hands in November 2021 and launched et Oliva pronounced (et OH- lee-va). Et Oliva offers flavors of the Mediterranean in the form of olive oil, jams, spreads, and Turkish lavosh crackers. For Patrick, it is all about pure flavors and reconnecting with family and with friends.  

Et Oliva is Latin for “and olives.” Their Cretan olive oil is seasonal, harvested using olives from several families in a small village. Every October is the olive harvest. The olives are harvested from family farms, brought together, and pressed on the one press in the village. The spreads and jams are not simply crushed figs, olives, and peppers, but complex combinations of fragrant spices like laurel, coriander, thyme, and star anise. 

Like many entrepreneurs, Patrick learned that when you run your own business you get to do something you love every day, something you are passionate about. But with ownership comes many hats, and Patrick is gaining an understanding that “When you’re working in the business, you’re not working on your business”. 

Patrick Karsu owner of et Oliva

Patrick secured et Oliva’s place by reaching out to people and asking, asking them to try his crackers, and pounding the pavement to make it happen; he was not afraid to advocate for his business. Working toward a Master’s in Business Administration, along with his time in corporate, taught Patrick how to have a diverse mindset for business. When launching et Oliva Patrick started cooking and creating the brand from Union Kitchen. After getting his feet wet, Patrick began working with Pod Foods, which helps emerging brands distribute their products. He now works with a firm specializing in consumer product goods, Rodeo, to assist him in building the foundation for his operational support. 

Beyond his life as a chef, Patrick was drawn to the nonprofit world, from working with wildlife organizations to studying food waste in hotels. He desires to build bridges in communities with the philosophy that, “You can’t just take, you have to give back.” He is registered with the LGBT Chamber of Commerce with aspirations of becoming B Corp certified to leverage his success with et Oliva in order to serve the community. 

Patrick is making connections and investing in the foundational operations of et Oliva to achieve a thriving business. For small business owners, he advises that “it is still your business whether you are making stuff or not”, solidify your operations and “pay yourself first.” 

Patrick wants all of his customers to know that Et Oliva is true Aegean food that is close to nature, filled with flavors of the sun. It is essential to share food and experiences with people, the act of eating is very intimate. We can leave behind the time when having a meal was a mindless activity and get back to living and celebrating with food.

The et Oliva line is available in stores like MOM’s Organic Market, Foxtrot, Broad Branch Market, Each Peach, Dent Place Market, and others. 

et Oliva Turkish Lavosh Crackers

Discover more from Flights and Foods

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

4,844 Comments

  • Mitolyn

    Hey just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your post seem to be running off the screen in Safari. I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with internet browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know. The style and design look great though! Hope you get the issue resolved soon. Cheers

  • ที่นี่

    It is perfect time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I wish to suggest you some interesting things or suggestions. Perhaps you can write next articles referring to this article. I desire to read more things about it!

  • ace90bet

    What i don’t understood is if truth be told how you’re no longer actually much more neatly-appreciated than you might be now. You are very intelligent. You recognize thus significantly in relation to this matter, made me in my opinion consider it from numerous numerous angles. Its like women and men aren’t involved except it’s one thing to do with Lady gaga! Your personal stuffs outstanding. Always take care of it up!

  • ikaria juice

    4 stars
    I was extremely pleased to uncover this page.
    I want to to thank you for your time for this fantastic read!!

    I definitely enjoyed every little bit of it and i also have you saved as a favorite to see new information on your blog.

  • Quietum Plus

    4 stars
    Hi there! This article couldn’t be written any better!
    Reading through this article reminds me of my previous roommate!

    He constantly kept talking about this. I most certainly will send this article to him.
    Pretty sure he’s going to have a good read. Thanks for sharing!

  • ace90bet

    Great amazing things here. I am very happy to see your post. Thank you a lot and i am taking a look ahead to contact you. Will you please drop me a e-mail?

  • mitolyn complaints

    3 stars
    I have been browsing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article
    like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me.
    Personally, if all web owners and bloggers made good content as you
    did, the web will be much more useful than ever before.

  • Prime Biome

    hey there and thanks to your info – I have certainly picked up anything new from right here. I did alternatively experience several technical points using this web site, as I experienced to reload the website lots of occasions prior to I may get it to load properly. I have been brooding about if your web hosting is OK? No longer that I’m complaining, but sluggish loading cases times will very frequently affect your placement in google and can harm your high quality rating if ads and ***********|advertising|advertising|advertising and *********** with Adwords. Anyway I am including this RSS to my email and could glance out for a lot extra of your respective exciting content. Ensure that you replace this once more soon..

  • ace90bet

    Thank you, I’ve just been looking for info about this topic for ages and yours is the best I have discovered till now. However, what concerning the bottom line? Are you sure concerning the source?

  • Glyco Shield

    There are actually a variety of details like that to take into consideration. That could be a nice point to carry up. I provide the ideas above as general inspiration however clearly there are questions like the one you convey up the place a very powerful factor will likely be working in trustworthy good faith. I don?t know if greatest practices have emerged around issues like that, but I am positive that your job is clearly recognized as a good game. Both girls and boys feel the impression of just a moment’s pleasure, for the rest of their lives.

  • lingeria pizzo

    Admiring the dedication you put into your blog and in depth information you offer. It’s good to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same unwanted rehashed information. Wonderful read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.

  • BeastForce

    Hello, Neat post. There’s an issue along with your web site in web explorer, may check thisK IE nonetheless is the market chief and a big section of other folks will omit your great writing because of this problem.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

error: Content is protected !!