Supplier Background

The Village Press in Hawke’s Bay is a specialised extra virgin olive oil producer founded by Wayne and Maureen Startup with the help of industry specialists. It all began in 1994 when they bought a property near Havelock North where olive trees had been planted 40 years ago in an olive canning trial by Sir James Wattie. This led them to international research to assess the potential for olives in the Bay. Wayne and Maureen have travelled to study olive growing and processing in the Hunter Valley and other olive producing areas of Australia, Israel and Italy.