The Story of Aurelius Food Co.
When does one decide they’re going to open a shop dedicated to olive oils and balsamic vinegars? While they’re working full time in the military, of course. Not everyone can say this is how they decided to start their business, but it is true for Aurelius Food Co. owner Mike George.
The story begins in the 1960’s, when Mike's French Canadian grandparents moved to Rome, Italy for work. Their children came to Montreal for university and then returned to Rome, except for Mike's mother, who stayed in Montreal. In 2016, during a family dinner, Mike was asked by his uncle if he would be interested in selling olive oil back home in Canada and that’s what started everything. At this time, Mike was a full-time member of the Canadian Armed Forces, having completed tours of duty in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq but this simple question seemed to have ignited a new passion for a career in olive oil.
In the beginning, Mike would sell his olive oil -the Early Harvest Extra Virgin Olive Oil- to friends at work. Gradually, he started selling in pop-ups and local markets around Ottawa, which got the attention of some of Ottawa's best chefs, who now use his olive oil as their high end finishing oil. In 2018, Mike decided to leave the military to open up a tasting boutique here in Wellington West. With the help of family and friends, they painted and built most of the shelves and furniture you see here in the store. After an enormous amount of work, Aurelius Food Co. opened its doors September 21st, 2018!
Since then, we’ve had the privilege of taking part in local community events such as Taste of Wellington, where we handed out samples of cucumber tomato salad flavoured with our Cucumber Melon White Balsamic and Meyer Lemon EVOO. We even hosted some of our own, including a Military Appreciation Day, where we partnered with 12 veteran owned businesses across Canada to raise money for Warrior Adventures Canada. Over these two years, we’ve seen different flavours come and go, as well as slowly expand our offerings to include salts and seasonings, stuffed olives, and Michael's Dolce BBQ Sauce, which uses our Smoked Hickory EVOO and Pomegranate Balsamic.
Every year, we strive to improve our service to you as we aim to be the source of your favourite olive oils and balsamic vinegars.
Our mission is to serve you while bringing you the best products we can. So thank you for all the new and continued support. Please come visit Mike, Nathalie, Judith, Stefanie and our newest member of the "oily crew", Amber. We would love to help you find that perfect pairing for your special dinner, or chat anything to do with oils and vinegars.
Really enjoyed reading about how Aurelius Fine oils & vinegars came to be. I love their olive oils and white balsamic vinegars. I have tried various flavours and found them all delicious. I do not live in Ottawa but will definitely continue to purchase from them.
Great articule.
Wishing you a lot of success.
Keep up the good work.