When Nathan Musher, a Washington resident and entrepreneur, purchased the rights to an olive oil company he named Pompeian in the early 1900s, he had no way of knowing just how much the company would grow during the next century.
The company, which marked 100 years in Baltimore this week, saw sales last year of more than $75 million and employs about 50 people at its importing and bottling facility outside downtown Baltimore.
Pompeian has seen several changes since its humble beginnings in 1906, not only in its business environment but also in the desire for its product.
In 1906, Musher purchased Pompeian for $7,500 from Seraphin A. Gatti, an itinerant salesman of food products. Under his leadership, Pompeian Inc. built several warehouses in the Mediterranean and established one of the largest olive oil warehouses in the world in Baltimore. Amid political turmoil in Europe, the family moved Pompeian?s headquarters to Baltimore.
“It [was] the right location for them because of the port and because of the ethnic community in Baltimore that uses olive oil, especially in the company?s beginning,” said Aris Melissaratos, secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development. “Up until 20 years ago, you needed an ethnic community” to support this type of business.
In 1930, the business was sold to the Hoffberger family, which owned several packaged-goods companies and, at the time, the Baltimore Orioles. Under their leadership, Pompeian became the first brand of olive oil launched on the national level.
The Moreno family of Spain, the company?s current owners, acquired Pompeian in 1975. Since that time, U.S. consumer tastes have changed considerably, according to the company?s president, Frank Patton.
In the past five years, Pompeian has doubled in size and has broadened its product offerings to include red wine vinegar and cooking wine.
