THE OLO STORY

Tessa Lowe’s maternity leave was mostly about bonding with baby Owen. But the brand-new mom found time for other things she loves. Like cooking. “Some of my favorite recipes call for chipotle peppers,” Tessa remembers. Chipotles are smoked, dried jalapeños, usually sold in jars or cans. Tessa’s recipes didn’t use up a whole can. “I came up with the idea of making a chipotle paste and putting it in a tube so I wouldn’t have to waste a whole can of peppers, and I could have the chipotle paste on hand at all times.” Betting that other cooks would love chipotle in a tube, Tessa started brainstorming about turning her idea into an actual product. She decided to call it Olo, in honor of her nickname for baby Owen. She and her husband Jonathan did some research. “Initially I thought I could make the product myself, but I soon realized it wouldn’t be possible,” Tessa says. The couple found a local company to make Olo’s Chipotle Paste and put it in tubes, and another to produce colorful packaging. “Starting out, we had to purchase a minimum amount of inventory and had no real idea where sales were going to come from,” Tessa says. “So I was trying to think: where can I start, what would be easy, where can I reach a lot of customers quickly?” We started online with Amazon then major specialty food retailers, online cooking sites, and food bloggers began contacting her after reading the reviews Amazon customers left for her product. Olo Foods second product is a certified organic Harissa paste. The products are filled and manufactured and made in the PNW.