Oil & Vinegar is entering into a strategic partnership with French competitor Oliviers & Co, which will also take a minority stake in the Dutch chain.
Over 140 shops
“Together stronger”, the French and Dutch chain echo a famous Welsh football song. Both sell Mediterranean food products and accessories, and have a widespread international shop network. Oil & Vinegar operates ninety shops in eight countries, Oliviers & Co has 51 shops in France, Scandinavia and Taiwan, and also sells to a network of 150 resellers in a dozen different countries.
Both chains see that their networks strongly complement each other in a geographic sense: there is very limited overlap. There are also synergy benefits to be gained in terms of joint sourcing, for instance with producers of oil and vinegar.
The two brands will continue to co-exist as two separate partner chains. Oliviers & Co CEO Erwan Verlingue sees it this way: “Oil & Vinegar brings us its experience with a highly structured retail network and we at Oliviers & Co will focus on sharing our knowledge of e-commerce and our multichannel approach.”