Huge hike in olive oil prices a hit for Vancouver restaurants

At Hydra Estiatorio in downtown Vancouver, every dish is prepared or finished with olive oil. The eatery has been hard-hit by shortages and surging prices.

At Hydra Estiatorio in downtown Vancouver, every dish is prepared or finished with olive oil.

“Our menu being Mediterranean and focused on seafood it’s really simple, we only have a handful of ingredients. But really, really high-quality olive oil is the backbone of the restaurant,” said Mark Greenfield, the director of culinary operations at Executive Table Group, which manages Hydra Estiatorio.

Olive oil has also become a big part of the Greek restaurant’s budget. The Mediterranean cooking staple has doubled in the price in the last several years, and while the cost of most other food items is finally starting to level off, olive oil is up as much as 26 per cent in 2024.

“It’s probably the one category where we have seen the most significant hike at the grocery store,” said Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.

“For restaurant operators it’s even worse, because they do use a lot of volume, and in most cases they can’t substitute. They can’t go for avocado oil or sunflower oil, they have to stick with olive oil given the cuisine they are working with. So that’s really quite costly for them.”

The high price is being blamed on climate change in olive producing countries in the Mediterranean.

“Spain is the largest exporter of olive oil, and their product last year was down 60 per cent. Simple economics 101: when supply goes down, price goes up,” said Michael von Massow, a food economist at the University of Guelph.