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The McPeak family brings a specialty olive oil and vinegar shop to Route 66

Olive the Best hosted a soft opening for their Williams location on April 7. Here, owner Scotty McPeak poses in the showroom. (V. Ronnie Tierney/WGCN)

Olive the Best hosted a soft opening for their Williams location on April 7. Here, owner Scotty McPeak poses in the showroom. (V. Ronnie Tierney/WGCN)

WILLIAMS Ariz. — After waiting patiently for retail space in the heart of Williams to become available, the owners of Olive the Best are seeing their dream become reality.

“We are so excited,” said Scotty McPeak who is partnering with his father Scott McPeak, Sr. on the project. “Williams has always reminded me of the small town that I’m from in Nebraska. The people here are so friendly and everyone knows everyone. I especially like the parades and the way the city of Williams has embraced and sustained the antiquity of Route 66.”

Scott McPeak, Sr. said he loves the community, the general area and the tourism aspect.

“But we also want people in Williams and nearby towns to experience the benefits of quality olive oils and balsamic vinegars and how beneficial they are for your health,” he said. “I was struggling with my health and 80 pounds overweight. When I discovered this line of olive oils and balsamic vinegars it changed my life and I lost a huge amount of weight the first four months of using them. I now eat huge spinach and arugula salads dressed with our products and I feel great.”

One of his favorite recipes is mixing infused olive oils with a fruity white balsamic vinegar over Greek Yogurt.

“It’s amazingly sweet but keto-friendly,” he said.

Williams Visitor Center operations manager, Janet Dean, said she is happy to see a store like Olive the Best come to Williams.

“Currently we don’t have any stores like this, so we’re really excited,” Dean said. “I used to be a pastry chef and worked at several restaurants, so personally I’m really grateful. My husband recently had a heart attack and is changing his diet, so this should really help. They will bring a lot to Williams.”

Much like the Olive the Best store in Flagstaff, which opened in 2018, the Williams location has the same welcoming personality and a lot of history.

“About 80 years ago this was a pool hall,” Scotty McPeak said. “We even have a few cigarette burns left on the floor, which we thought was cool.”

The building was also a former APS office.

The polished showroom resembles a spacious upscale tasting room and has wine barrels from Napa Valley on display around the store.

“My wife, Laura, her mom, Barbara, and my mom, Marge, all converged on designing the store,” McPeak said. “They did an incredible job with the shelving, furnishings, color scheme and overall design. I just love what they’ve done and we’ve had a lot of compliments.”

He said they utilized local talent for the construction and signage.

Sheridan House Inn co-owner and chef, Mark Santy, said he is glad to won’t need to travel to Flagstaff to acquire some of those ingredients. Santy has been using Olive the Best products for four years.

“I use their lemon-infused olive oil in our sweet potato puree under my spicy shrimp and their Cranberry Pear Balsamic Vinegar on my salmon salad,” he said. “I make a breakfast banana split with yogurt and granola with a balsamic reduction poured over the top. They are great to work with, super helpful and I really like buying from them.”

Along with a douse on salad, vegetables, meats and fish, McPeak says some restaurants and bars are using their balsamic vinegars in their mixed drinks and coffees.

“It’s plant-based so it works well,” he said.

Along with their sizable stock of olive oil varieties infused with fruits and herbs, about 50 different aged balsamic vinegars (both dark and white) from Modena, Italy will also be available.

“Espresso Bean Balsamic, ElderFlower White, Denissimo, Elderberry Dark, Apricot, Cinnamon Pear and Blackberry Ginger are some of our balsamic vinegars,” McPeak said.

Grand Canyon Chamber of Commerce President Stoney Ward said the new olive store will fit in well with the other eclectic stores in Williams.

“This will be a great addition for tourists, locals, and especially foodies,” Ward said. “I love olive oil, it’s so healthy, and acquiring olive oils and vinegars like this so close with all the selections at Olive the Best is going to be great. We also don’t have a lot of resources like this close by so we welcome our partners.”

The new store in Williams will mimic the Flagstaff store with tastings of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and free shipping will be available.

“We will have about 1,600 square feet which is the perfect size for our store,” McPeak said. “We ship for free for sales over $39, so this will be great for tourists. They can shop, jump on the train for the Grand Canyon and not have to worry about lugging packages around all day.”

Last year Olive the Best in Flagstaff shipped an estimated 3,000 orders across the United States.

“This is a valuable addition to our town,” said local resident Tiffany Breese. “The interior design of Olive the Best store is thoughtfully laid out and there are so many products to see and sample. It’s also very well organized and has a wonderful variety of products.”

Ultra Premium (UP) is a new category of olive oils sold at Olive the Best.

“These are some of the highest quality olive oils in the world,” McPeak said. “In order to qualify for the UP grade, these oils must exceed a comprehensive set of production, storage, transportation, testing and chemistry standards.”

Polyphenols are the medicinal property of olive oil that is good for lubrication of joints, he said.

“They start to diminish after 12 months of crush and have no health value so it defeats the purpose of buying it,” he said. “Because olives are grown seasonally, we switch hemispheres we buy from to ensure we carry the freshest product possible.”

A partial list of infused and fused oils include tasty flavors such as Baklouti green chili pepper, blood orange, butter, ginger and black garlic, Madagascar black peppercorn, mushroom and sage, Persian lime, and herbs de Provence olive oil.

Fused olive oil pertains to olive oil crushed with the fruits or herbs and infused means the flavor is infused after the oil was extracted from the olives.

According to Flagstaff resident Elizabeth Wallace, Olive the Best has the freshest olive oils and vinegars in northern Arizona.

“My family and I enjoy them as marinades, for dipping bread and especially salads,” she said. “I’ve been giving bottles of olive oil and vinegars as gifts for years and now my friends and family love them too. I’m happy to hear about the new location in Williams…. locals and tourists will appreciate this one-of-a-kind-store.”

The store had a soft-opening April 1 and has already seen four times the amount of people coming through compared to the Flagstaff location.

“We’ve seen four to five more door swings,” McPeak said.

Olive the Best – Grand Canyon is located in the heart of downtown Williams at 217 West Route 66 and can be contacted at (928) 635-5249. To visit their website go to olivethebest.com.


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