By: Josh Maxwell Photos By: Lillian Reitz
Although social gatherings are limited these days, that doesn’t stop local businesswoman Amanda Meurer from making her colorful charcuterie boards for others to enjoy. She has managed to cook up a large following for Olive Bleu Charcuterie: With more than 2,500 followers on her Instagram, Meurer makes it her personal mission to put every bit of effort and creativity she can into each box she creates.
How special are the results? “Every box is completely different; often clients will send me a picture of a box that I’ve already made because they want that exact box, but they come out a little different,” she says.
When building charcuterie displays, it’s important to understand exactly what the client wants. Meurer puts extra care and consideration – and complexity – into crafting her boxes.
“Having fresh ingredients and quality products to put inside my boxes means everything to me. I use artisan cheese, high quality meats, and fresh fruits,” she says.
With quarantine and social distancing still very prevalent in the community, Meurer finds that her business has not suffered from the pandemic.
“I feel that it has actually benefited my business,” she says. “When everyone started practicing social distancing, it made it easier for me to deliver my boxes because people weren’t really going anywhere.”
Meurer has also found that her boxes have had an easy time reaching the ears and lips of others. With any business, marketing oneself is very important. However, Meurer finds that her boxes basically market themselves. “I haven’t really had to market at all; the only thing I have to do is just post on social media. Also, word of mouth has helped me a lot.”
Even though Olive Bleu has garnered much success, sometimes the weight of running a business can be daunting. Luckily, Meurer has her supportive husband by her side to help her at every step.
“My husband has been my number one supporter in this, just by encouraging me to follow my dreams and to not worry about failure.” Meurer says.
While modest and very down-to-earth, Meurer was happy to share just how far her business has come. She noticed her orders steadily increasing, to the point that she unfortunately has to turn some customers away when she runs out of ingredients.
“I can only do so many boxes a day; they’re very time-consuming. It really bothers me when I have to tell someone that I can’t make their box,” Meurer says. However, this only further shows just how far Olive Bleu Charcuterie has come in building its clientele in a short amount of time.
In the future, Meurer hopes to open a storefront so her business can grow and gain more exposure. “I would like to possibly have a storefront here in Corpus and take my trailer to Fredericksburg, or to have my food truck at the wineries and sell from my trailer on the weekends.” For now, you can find Olive Bleu’s food trailer parked outside of Driftwood. Stop by, say hello, and treat yourself to one of her beautiful creations.