Humble Beginnings

Willow Creek Olive Estate’s state-of-the-art factory is nestled amongst the olive groves on our farm and covers roughly 5 000 square metres. Over the years, the equipment and technology used to process our olives have changed to accommodate our growth.

The evolution of our factory is not only a testament to our commitment towards our customers but also showcases our love of innovation and the spirit of excellence engrained in our company culture.

Our factory had humble beginnings, with our first batch of extra virgin olive oil extracted using an Oliomio extractor. Back then, we could only process 50 kg of olives per hour. A year later, we exchanged the Oliomio extractor for a Pieralisi decanter, which allowed us to push our olive processing capacity up to 450 kg per hour.

Where we are now

In 2008, a 3.5-ton Alpha Laval was added to our processing line in an effort to support the growing demand for our olive oil. In 2014, it was replaced by a state-of-the-art Pieralisi Leopard 8 olive press which sports a processing capacity of 6.5 tons an hour.

Willow Creek Olive Estate houses one of South Africa’s largest olive factories equipped with this leading technology.

The Protoreattore malaxing unit, in combination with the Pieralisi Leopard 8 olive press, is used to extract the oil. This shortens the oil’s malaxation time and exposure to oxygen, maintaining optimum levels of polyphenols in the oil.

Our oil is also extracted at temperatures of around 28°C (82°F), ensuring that the goodness and nutrition in the olives are preserved.

We handpick all of our olives. This not only boosts employment in our region but also ensures that all our olives remain in prime condition. Our harvest-to-extraction process is locked in at under six hours, thereby ensuring great-tasting, superior-quality olive oil.

At Willow Creek Olive Estate, we do our utmost to keep up with the times and continually upgrade the technology we utilise to guarantee production efficiency. Our impeccable product quality reflects our love for innovation, both on a technological front and in terms of cultivating creative problem-solving skills within our team.

However, our quest for excellence won’t benefit prospective customers if we don’t go the extra mile to explain what differentiates our brand. For this reason, we support our claims of goodness and quality through international food safety accreditation.

On 2 January 2020, we achieved a significant milestone by receiving our FSSC 22000 accreditation. This certification allows our customers to have confidence in the quality and safety of our products knowing that we have a rigorous food safety system in place.

As our factory’s Quality Assurance Manager, Hester de Wet is responsible for overseeing and ensuring the quality of our award-winning product line. She sets the production standards and pulls all the strings to ensure that her team meets the stringent regulations that guarantee food safety and the well-being of our staff.

Hester is a seasoned food scientist with two BSc degrees, and her love of food fuels her passion to uphold our product line’s stellar reputation. Since joining our team in 2018, she has seen to it that the team culture lends itself to the production of our excellent olive-based products.

She also drives the competitiveness of our product line by ensuring that our oil is recognised in both the local and international olive oil markets. By making sure that our award-winning product line gets the accreditation it deserves, Hester has taken up the mantle of turning Willow Creek Olive Estate’s ambitious aspirations into a reality.