OILIVA GREKA

Home ties and entrepreneurial spirit

The history of OILIVA GREKA is a family history. It is closely related with love for nature and the Greek way of life, with commitment and entrepreneurial spirit.
Since the beginning of the 19th century, we have owned several hectares of land with olive trees on the Peloponnese, in the south of Greece. My grandfather Efstathios Panagopoulos, known to everybody as Barba-Stathis, who returned to his homeland after a few years in the USA, bought the land and cultivated it for the first time.

Supported by friends, my parents Nikolaos and Panagóta manage to make the olive grove accessible and expand their harvests in the following years. Valuable experience in planting new trees and nurturing the existing trees, as well as careful harvesting by hand. From contacts to nearby oil mills, the idea of producing olive oil is born with a view to selling it regionally. Impressive quality and taste. At the beginning of the 1970s, a special filtering process is jointly developed in which the fresh, cold-pressed olive oil rests for some time, so that suspended matter can settle before gently bottling from the upper section.

The demand for natural oil increases. Employees and cooperations contribute to further developments, as do new production and logistics techniques. The principle of olive oil extraction, from traditional cultivation to harvesting by hand, from the most careful processing using purely mechanical methods to our high quality standards of sustainable, traceable cultivation and production processes, has remained unchanged to this day.

In 1978 I decide, much like Barba-Stathis years ago, to see something of the world, packing the roots of my Greek homeland, and my passion for olives and Mediterranean cuisine in my suitcase. The restaurant which I opened in SYRTAKI flourishes. Not least due to Greek hospitality and tasty dishes, naturally refined with our local olive oil.

On the Peloponnese, my brother Andreas takes care of maintaining the olive trees and producing our olive oil in the local oil mill. In Germany, more and more guests start to ask about the oil we use to prepare food, so that the idea of marketing it here is born. After analyses and certifications, in line with the applicable regulations, GREKA GmbH is founded in 2014 with registered offices in Leer, wth the aim of supporting family and friends in crisis-ridden Greece and offering high quality extra virgin olive oil at fair prices to people who appreciate healthy food.

Even the name of our brand: OILIVA GREKA: melts in your mouth. Enjoy a piece of the Mediterranean way of life and taste our delicious olive oil.

Efstathios Panagopoulos
(traditionell genannt nach dem Großvater – gerufen Stathis)