Business Profile: Hudson Valley Olive Oil, Mt. Kisco
Anyone who looks in their kitchen pantry will likely find a bottle of olive oil, but after one visit to Hudson Valley Olive Oil in Mount Kisco, you may have a whole new perspective on the product.
Started by Shane Furnia, the shop features more than 50 varieties of oils, balsamic vinegars, which are aged for 12 to 18 years, and pasta and sea salt.
Although it’s easy enough for people to walk into their local grocery store for these items, Furnia said that those products will not be as fresh. Olive oil has a typical shelf life of a year to a year-and-a-half, and mass produced products often spend months in shipping crates before reaching your shopping cart, losing quality in the process.
“Until you try our oils, and you [compare] to the oil you’re using, you probably wouldn’t notice the difference because you’ve never really tasted a fresh oil,” said Furnia, who compared the taste of fresh versus store-bought oil to flat and fizzy soda.
Hudson Valley Olive Oil also offers a greater experience for shoppers than the average grocery store. Visitors have the opportunity to taste any of the oils, either by sipping it from a small cup or dipping bread into their selection, before making their purchase. There are also options for unique mixtures. A favorite of Furnia’s young daughter is Butternut Squash Seed oil and Strawberry Balsamic, a mixture that tastes remarkably like peanut butter and jelly.
A Dutchess County resident, Furnia previously owned his own construction company for 15 years. He handled multimillion dollar jobs, but realized he might have a more secure future by having a store.
After seeing his parents achieve success with three similar stores of their own, Furnia decided to open Hudson Valley Olive Oil in Mount Kisco, where his wife works at Northern Westchester Hospital.
Independent by nature, Furnia designed and built everything in the South Moger Avenue shop, from the counter tops to the furniture, which was painted to look as though it had been aged. Finishing all work in just about a month, Furnia described the atmosphere of the shop as Tuscan-style with Westchester elegance.
“The fact that I built everything, I polished all these floors, it means a lot to me,” he said.
Furnia also designed the company’s logo, which features the Tappan Zee Bridge, surrounded by foliage and framed by olive branches. The image was the first design that Furnia drew, and he fell in love with it after sketching it out with a pencil one day.
Hudson Valley Olive Oil has been open to customers for less than a month, but Furnia said there have already been several repeat customers and sales have steadily increased each week. Some of the most popular items have been the gift baskets, which start at $20, as well as samplers of six mini bottles of different oils and balsamic vinegars, starting at $35. Customers can also purchase a gift basket of empty bottles, allowing the recipient to visit the shop and make his or her own selections.
“Who doesn’t use olive oil?” Furnia said. “It’s a gift that everybody’s going to use instead of a scarf or a hat.”
Looking toward the future, Furnia said he plans to start hosting cooking classes later this winter. Using the small kitchen in the shop, he hopes to offer some mommy and me-type cooking classes and classes for children that would be held in conjunction with events for adults in a different part of the store. He is also looking to open a second location elsewhere in Westchester within a year.
The shop is located at 55 S. Moger Ave. For more information, call 914-864-0788 or visit www.hudsonvalleyoliveoil.com.
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