MUST READ – Alexis Muñoz, The Olive Tree Entrepreneur

Elaïologist, olive oil expert, Alexis Muñoz answers questions from Claire-Agnès Gueutin in an interview for Éditions Contenta. A passionate entrepreneur, he has made it his mission to plant olive trees in France and produce high-quality olive oil at a fair price!

Where does your passion for olive oil come from?

French-Spanish, I grew up in a Spanish family with an exceptional grandmother, a great cook, who always had olive oil with her. Olive oil has always been an ingredient by my side. It’s a fascinating product, with its texture, color, and transparency. When it’s freshly pressed, it comes out fluorescent green!
I also like its social aspect: whether you're a poor farmer or extremely wealthy, you have olive oil at home. The farmer can even have better olive oil than the very rich person. Olive oil is accessible to all!
Good olive oil isn’t necessarily expensive.

What is the mission of your company?

I am involved in every step of the olive oil production process, from the land to the kitchen. I am an Elaïologist, meaning I work from a 360° approach: selecting the right land for growing olives, planting the trees, choosing the mill, deciding on the crushing technique, engineering the mill, producing the oil, selling it to top chefs, and now, selling it directly to consumers. I can’t imagine only doing part of the work. I am as committed to the land as I am to the chefs, using my knowledge accumulated over more than 20 years through meetings, visits to olive groves, and mills.

Due to historical and land-related reasons, France produces less than 5% of the olive oil it consumes.
My goal is to inspire people, especially young people, to plant olive trees and invest in olive groves.
For that, I assist individuals who want to plant olive trees and produce olive oil by managing their project from A to Z. For example, I participated in planting 100,000 olive trees near Uzès in the Gard region.
Olives are a winter fruit that can be pressed when they are green (unripe), ripe, or overripe. So with just one variety, you can make three different types of olive oil!

For my brand 18:1 (for C18:1, the formula of oleic acid), I decided to create olive oils with a single variety and two different stages of maturity. This oil is sold in a container that respects the product—opaque to protect the oil from light.

What does being an entrepreneur mean to you?

An entrepreneur is free, creative, generous, and a unifier. They give meaning to the daily lives of those around them, so they see their work as something more than just a livelihood.
Entrepreneurship is a tool for fulfillment, both for the entrepreneur and for their team. It allows me to create the only way I know to leave a mark after my life. I want to leave trees behind me to give back to the land what it has given us.