Early nineteenth century Beino, a small communal village tucked in the northern hilly Lebanese landscape, saw the start of a Fares family tradition, pressing olives gathered from own and nearby orchards.
Our practices emphasize sustainable agriculture, be it through orchard spacing (optimized for air and sunlight circulation), tillage reduction, soil management, or organically acceptable methods of pest control.
Come harvest time, olives are handpicked to ensure that only optimally ripe ones are selected. Immediately after being harvested, olives are transported by crates to the mill for oil extraction.
The fresh olives are first washed to remove leaves and debris; they arethen crushed. Oil is cold-extracted at a controlled temperature of 28 °C using a three-phase, water-saving centrifugal system.
Lastly, our decanted and light-filtered olive oil is ready to be bottled into fine glass bottles or tin cans, which, in turn, are labeled, boxed, and palletized to be shipped around the world.
One company; three brands targeting high end, mainstream and ethnic markets
Horeca Lebanon 2024 was a great platform to showcase Zejd and Zeytna flagship brands within the QOOT cluster stand displaying Lebanese innovation in food and beverage.
Zejd is an exclusive gourmet brand of innovative Lebanese themed olive derivatives, featuring outstanding extra virgin olive oils, tasteful appetizers, exotic delicacies, as well as emblematic condiments and spices.
Zeytna is a select brand, typical in taste and character, covering a range of olive oils, table olives, olive pastes, and pomegranate molasses that perfectly season Lebanese cuisine.
It was also an exciting opportunity to network with local actors from the foodservice and hospitality industries and connect with international distributors under the hosted buyers program.
Customers interest in Zejd and Zeytna was rewarding; and the facilitation of the Lebanon Agrifood Innovation Cluster and the Association of Lebanese Industrialists was valuable.
In an effort to expand its reach to Latin America, Olivetrade participated in Lebanon Fest held in both Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil under the patronage of both the Lebanese Consulates General of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo, and bringing together 20 Lebanese companies in an exhibition of agri-food products, a fair with typical foods, cooking workshops, as well as a business seminar between Lebanese and Brazilian entrepreneurs.
The event was an opportunity for Olivetrade to present its ZEJD and Mediterranean Olive Drops product ranges of extra virgin olive oils and olive derivative products as well as its House of Zejd franchise ready concept store.
In recognition of his entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen, Youssef Fares, founder and CEO of OliveTrade, was ranked amongst the executive top 5 entrepreneurs in a review by Executive Magazine; Since the inception of OliveTrade back in 2004, he successfully developed a comprehensive and innovative range of select olive derivative products under Zejd brand name, penetrated the local market of high-end retail shops and Horeca, expanded the business internationally, launched House of Zejd, a franchise ready specialized olive derivative concept store, all while winning prizes, awards and competitions.