Hampstead Oils & Vinegars

Intro to Topsail Insider

Christa 0:04

This is Topsail Insider and my name is Christa. Join me as I travel around Greater Topsail interviewing the fabulous business owners in our beautiful beach towns. Locals absolutely need to hear about the new restaurants and the shops that are popping up everywhere, and those folks considering relocating to the Topsail area, well listen up and find out what's available before making the big move. And anyone vacationing here? You'll find that we have many activities to enjoy beyond our beautiful beaches. Let's do this.

Coming Up!

Christa 0:40

Coming up, get ready for a wonderful interview with Ms. Georgia Kurre the owner of Hampstead Oils and Vinegars on Highway 17 in Hampstead, North Carolina. We'll be talking to her about her delicious products, her beautiful gift packaging, her special events and recipes, as well as how she landed in Hampstead selling something she absolutely loves and you will too. You'll even get a sample of her banjo playing.

Intro to Georgia and her Olive Oils

Christa 1:13

All right. You ready?

Georgia 1:13

Yeah.

Christa 1:14

Let's just go for it.

Georgia 1:16

Might as well jump in.

Christa 1:24

Hi everyone. Welcome to the very first episode of Topsail Insider. My name is Christa and I am your host. Today we are sitting with Georgia and speaking to her about her store, Hampstead Oils and Vinegars Thank you very much Georgia. You are very welcome. How are you feeling?

Georgia 1:41

I'm feeling good.

Christa 1:42

Awesome. Okay, full disclosure, I work about three or four doors down from Georgia's store. And I had this big idea, I'm gonna do this podcast, and I was getting so excited about it. And then right before it's time to take those first steps to start booking the interviews and doing the actual work. That fear hit me and just sat there overnight. And then the next morning I was just racked. I don't know that I can do this. What am I doing? What are you thinking? And then I went to work and when I left work, I looked over at Georgia's store. And there was the open sign, I stuck my head in the door. I'm like, Georgia, doing a podcast. Will you please be my first guest? And she's yep, I'm in. I'm an open book.

Georgia 2:24

I am too.

Christa 2:25

So obviously your oils and vinegars, I wanna hear a little bit about your oils and vinegars and like how many is it? Is it flavors? Is it infusions?

Georgia 2:34

So it is, I think I have about 43 or 44 right now. I am terrible about seeing new things and wanting to get them immediately, so I trade things out pretty often. We just added a new one this week. They come from all over the world. They are infused, and fused. Infused confuses people sometimes because it is a very rare process. You can only do it in very specific circumstances. And what they do is they actually take, so for example, the blood orange is a fused oil. So they take the oranges, they take the olives, they crush them at the exact same time. Which really gets the flavor into the oil. And then, It has that really good flavor and it doesn't happen often. Most of the oils and vinegars are gonna be infused where they take usually essence of something and put it in the oils, and then that flavors the oils. So I have those and

High Quality, Non-flavored Oils and Medicinal Uses

Georgia 3:37

then I have. A few high quality non-flavored oils and non-flavored vinegars for people who are not looking for that. I have some customers that actually take some of the oils as medicine. So they'll take a yes. They'll take like a tea. Some of 'em take like a teaspoon of it or a couple teaspoons. Some of 'em take a couple tablespoons. Which

Christa 3:55

ones.

Georgia 3:56

are these? So they're the high quality non-flavored oils. They track their bio phenols and the squalene and the vitamin E and it's all on placards on the oils and you, the higher, the better. So there's been studies that have come out that you show that the antioxidants help with cancer, the squalene helps with Alzheimer's, and then the vitamin E Of course, we all know the benefits of that. So those studies are coming out. Pretty regularly and people are educated on that and they come in asking for those things.

Christa 4:28

I had no idea.

Georgia 4:29

Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? I

Christa 4:30

love that. Yeah. Yeah. Super

Where the Oils are From

Christa 4:32

interesting. And what part of the world are you getting your oils from?

Georgia 4:35

So all over the world, most of them come from Italy. I would say 80%. A lot of the fused oils come from Tunisia, and my company actually goes all over the world to get those high quality non-flavored oils. Right now I have one from Spain, one from Peru, one from Chile, but they go everywhere. They go to South Africa, they go to Australia. There's even some out of Sweden and Albania, and they work directly with the growers. They go, they test it, they run all these chemical panels on it. They're very serious about it. They put 'em into competitions. They win a lot of competitions.

Christa 5:11

That's so cool.

Georgia 5:12

I'm really terrible about advertising that. They send us videos and pictures. They're like, we've got this lovely oil. Look at this, and they'll show us videos of them crushing it. They're. They're in it to win it. They're serious about

Christa 5:24

it. Yeah, I would, you should put that stuff on your Facebook page. I would love to see that. I.

Georgia 5:28

when I figure that out, I will do it.

Christa 5:30

I understand completely.

All About the Vinegars

Christa 5:32

And what about your vinegars?

Georgia 5:34

So same most of them come from Italy. They're done in the Moderna method, which is an Italian method for making vinegars. So I have white vinegars, I have dark vinegars. The difference is the dark vinegars. are Cooked in a copper kettle, and then they're aged for a certain amount of time. And the white vinegars, it uses a white grape must, which is a part of the grapes, and they don't cook 'em. So your white vinegars are gonna be tartar fresher, and then the dark vinegars are gonna have deeper flavors, even sweeter flavors than the white vinegars.

Christa 6:07

My favorite I'm sure everyone has their favorites. I just love a straight traditional balsamic vinegar. And if it's an aged balsamic, it's got that extra sweetness. I love it so much. Yes.

Georgia 6:17

have the 18 year age. You can get older ones, but they start getting really expensive and I'm trying to make sure that I keep my quality high and my prices is low.

Christa 6:27

Good. Good. We appreciate that. Yes, thank

All About the Salts

Christa 6:29

Okay, so one of my favorite things in your store is actually not an oil or a vinegar, It's your salt, specifically your truffle salt, I can make the frozen french fries. For my kids. I pull mine off to the side

Georgia 6:46

special, pile,

Christa 6:47

and I feel like I'm in a five star restaurant. Like That

Georgia 6:50

is amazing. And I tell people, I'm like, any green vegetable, you put that on the end of any green vegetable and it really just adds something extra to it. It tastes really good.

Christa 7:01

So what other flavors are there? Because I haven't focused on any of the other ones yet.

Georgia 7:05

So there's fire salt, which actually does not have any salt in it. I actually have people that cannot eat salt that come in and buy that flavoring for their food. So it's spicy. Then I have a shashimi togarashi, which is a very spicy seasoning that people. Tend to put on Asian dishes. My son especially puts it on ramen. He loves ramen. He's all about the ramen bowls, so he'll put that on there. I have a hickory smoked salt also very delicious, which is self-explanatory. More like a barbecue kind of flavor. And then I have a garlic bread seasoning that is, I describe it to people as when you come out of a restaurant and you have the garlic breath, like you are like, I need to go home and brush my teeth. I have garlic Yeah. That's that. have that here. And I use that very sparingly. A little bit goes a long way.

Christa 7:52

I just got my boys used to having I put a little garlic in on my butter bread and they just starting to fall in love with that. So I might have to take some of that home today and give it a whirl, but I will be, go easy on 'em for sure. Yeah.

Georgia 8:03

Start slow.

Christa 8:03

now. Do you have rubs or I was confusing that with the salts.

Jams, Jellies and Mustards

Georgia 8:07

I do not have rubs. I have jams, jellies, and mustards.

Christa 8:10

know about those. Let's hear about those.

Georgia 8:12

they're mostly spicy jellies, because I like spicy jellies. I do have a couple that are, I have a bourbon pecan blueberry that's not spicy. Yeah, they're just like the ones, you throw on the cream cheese and everybody enjoy. And then I have, One that's a hot bacon jelly. And people had, somebody told me that, put that on hamburgers is delicious. And I would've never thought that.

Christa 8:34

I would never have thought about that either. And the mustards,

Georgia 8:36

yes, I have mustard, like a dill pickle, mustard. I think I have a raspberry mustard. There's three or four different kinds of mustards that, some people just love mustards.

Christa 8:45

my husband's one of those. Yeah. Yeah.

Georgia 8:47

Try to have a little bit of everything.

Christa 8:48

So this weekend you had one of your sample Saturdays. And you served the little the cheesecakes? Yes. The mini cheesecakes. That was raspberry. Yes. Was it Yes,

Georgia 8:57

It was the new dark raspberry vinegar.

Christa 9:00

I wanna try that before I leave today as

Georgia 9:01

Yes. Okay. It's good. It's a good one.

Christa 9:04

Okay. I also,

Gifts and Packaging

Christa 9:05

and this is how I first met you, was my boss sent me over here to buy Christmas gifts For their employees. The, the packaging here is so classy and so well done, and I. And you can get the medium size bottles or you, I like your sample packet where we can mix the salts and give people a gift like that. I think We used those and put them in our gift baskets for our district managers it was so great. But I think what impressed me the most on that very first time was you gave me a recipe to include with the oil and vinegar that I chose for them. And I just thought that was the coolest thing. So I think if I go to a party and I wanna be guaranteed that I'm gonna be invited again later, I'm showing up for that stuff as my hostess gift. This is my new place. If I'm going to a party, I'm coming to Georgia's place first. And get set up. Okay. Yes.

Georgia 9:58

So I tried to be really thoughtful about. The packaging. I try to be really thoughtful about all of that because I try not to have things that go in the trash and I try to buy biodegradable things. I, but I try to buy quality things. The packaging, a lot of it comes from Italy. They're actually grappa bottle boxes that are coming from Italy. But I buy them from a man outta Minnesota. He imports them into Minnesota and then I get them from him.

Christa 10:25

I

Sample Saturdays and Recipes

Christa 10:26

know too that these recipes that I'm referring to for the oils and vinegars and such you can find those recipes. You'll probably get a recipe here if you come to her sample Saturdays,

Georgia 10:37

Yes, I actually make a little booklet. I try to make four things each sample Saturday, two dishes, two drinks, one alcoholic, one non-alcoholic. And I try to make a little booklet of all the recipes and hand them out

Christa 10:48

Oh, that's wonderful.

Georgia 10:49

em. I can give you one today.

Christa 10:51

those

Georgia 10:51

too. Yes,

Christa 10:52

there are perks to doing this. Okay. And I know that I did see some recipes on your website. So I know that some are listed there and also Facebook page, so be sure to find Hampstead Oil and Vinegars on Facebook as well.

How Georgia Found Hampstead and Oils & Vinegars

Christa 11:08

You were not, you're not from Hampstead? Okay. So I wanna find out what got you here. I wanna know where you were born and raised and your little bit of history there, but how did you end up in Hampstead and how did you end up doing oils and vinegars? What led you here?

Georgia 11:22

Okay. Long story short, so I'm originally from Tennessee. The hills of Tennessee. I met my husband. He was living in Charleston. I was living in Chattanooga. He was there for SWAT team training. He was a policeman outside of Charleston. So we dated long distance for a year and then I moved to Charleston and lived there for, I think I was there for four years. And he got hired on with the Navy and our first duty station was, where we were. So 17 years ago, our first duty station was here and he is an ocean person. Like his happy place is the water. And he always wanted to come back here, so we.

Christa 12:03

moved

Georgia 12:04

And lived a lot of places as you do with the military. And the plan was always to come back here. He retires in two years. Our oldest was starting high school. Our youngest is starting middle school. It was time to get somewhere and stay somewhere.

Christa 12:17

Get your roots down. Yes. Yeah.

Georgia 12:18

And so he always, we came back to Hampstead, we moved. The summer of 2020 when everything was in lockdown. we got our orders the weekend that they shut down everything and they said, but you're still moving. We said, but how are we gonna move? They said you just gonna have to figure it out. You don't get to travel. You don't get to do a house hunting trip. Just figure it out. So we bought our house over the

Christa 12:42

internet.

Georgia 12:43

our realtor did a FaceTime and we walked around and that's how we bought

Christa 12:47

our house.

Georgia 12:47

Georgia. I'm not even kidding you. So That's frightening. I guess it was, but it's turned out good. So we, my parents live with us, so we had, the biggest thing is always accommodate my parents. So there was a place for them at this house they're still, active and, but they need us close, Yes. So they're right next door. A lot of things can be overlooked if we're accommodating everyone. So we bought. And we came here, and then I started looking for a job and I could not get a job. And I know everybody says everybody's hiring. Nobody was hiring when I was for a No.

Christa 13:23

that time it it was different.

Georgia 13:24

It was, and I couldn't even get anybody to call me.

Christa 13:26

Were you looking just here in, in

Georgia 13:29

I was looking here Wilmington,

Christa 13:31

Oh, you were going down to Wilmington

Georgia 13:32

yes. Oh yes. And so my, because we've moved so much, I have a very weird job history. I've done a lot of things I've been a software project coordinator. I've worked for a lawyer, I've worked for a school district. Every time we would move, I would do something different. So I I understand that my,

Christa 13:49

you're well rounded.

Georgia 13:50

right? And my resume. Weird,

Christa 13:52

well-rounded.

Georgia 13:54

So I told my husband, I said, I am and to go back a little bit, when our last duty station was Mississippi, we lived in this tiny little town in Mississippi called Pass Christian. Outside of New Orleans. About an hour. And they had one of these stores in the town. And I loved it. And I would go every month and I would spend a little money and I would get myselfe something new and we would, make things with it. And I loved it. For me, it was a blast. And so I, when we moved here, I was like, I'll be fine. They'll have something. It's a big city, it's fine. And there was nothing. And so I told my husband, I said, I think I'm gonna open a store. And he said, what you're doing what? I said, I think I am. He said, okay, I'll help you. And so I talked to some friends who have their own businesses. I was thinking about that when you were talking about this earlier. The doubt. And I definitely called those people many times and said, am I thinking about this the right way? Am I doing this the right way? And got lots of feedback because it is scary. It's very scary.

Christa 14:56

It is. You're obviously investing money that's clear, but it's your time and all of your And your family has to go along with you and it takes, a lot of energy from everybody involved. Yes. And you put forth a lot of effort and You just hope and you pray that it's gonna go the way that you have this vision in your head. And so has it gone you Yes.

Georgia 15:18

So it's going, I feel like it's going really well. I like, I'm very lucky, my family's very supportive. You'll see my kids up here helping me out on breaks. My husband comes up here, God bless them, and changes light bulbs for me and builds things for me, and so they're very supportive and it's going really well. I think people here like to eat well. They like to try to be healthy. They have active lifestyles and I feel like they come to see me to help with that.

Christa 15:46

So you guys are fully settled here in Hampstead? It's done,

Georgia 15:49

yes. I'm not moving again. Okay.

15:51

He gets itchy feet but I figure if I have a store, It's gonna be really hard to pick up and move again. That's right. That's right.

Challenges Faced

Christa 15:58

You've taken that big step and you've opened this. So what would you say has been the biggest challenge you've met so far

Georgia 16:06

so I don't know what, I don't know. I just make it up as I go So every day is really truly an adventure. The the doubt is hard. Like you doubt yourself in the middle of the night. You wake up and you're like, am I doing

Surprises and Rewards

Georgia 16:20

the right thing?

Christa 16:21

You've obviously, there's always gonna be challenges, but what would you say are some of the biggest surprises and the reward. That you've had so far with Hampstead oils and vinegars.

Georgia 16:31

So meeting people has been delightful. my experience with the people of Hampstead is they're friendly. They love to talk. They're from lots of different places. Yes, the local people are delightful and fun, but then there's people from other parts of the country who also who have lived other places that have had these stores And so they come in excited. Do you have this flavor? Do you have that flavor? Yeah. They're excited that you're here, which I find so much fun. And then just they share lots of information with me and they share recipes with me Nice. and for me. I told my husband, I said I wanted, when I was trying to figure out what I was going to do, I said, I. want to Sell something that I love I want to chitty chat with people. You're doing that. That's what I'm doing. You're doing it

Christa 17:18

so many different levels.

The Banjo

Christa 17:24

Okay, so in Tennessee, is that where you learned how to play the banjo?

Georgia 17:29

No, but that is where I fell in love with the banjo, because where I grew up in Tennessee, they had something called the Mountain Opry, it was up on top of a mountain was on Saturday nights and for I think couple dollars you could go in there and the local people would come in and play. and there was always people in there playing the banjo. And I was Fascinated. Oh yes. Always. And so as when we lived in Mississippi, my husband bought me a banjo and banjo lessons because there was a man there that had a thing called the Bluegrass Cabin. he started teach me. So I started learning maybe about five years ago.

Christa 18:09

What?

Georgia 18:10

yes, about five years ago.

Christa 18:12

Okay. Because I do work, a couple doors down from you. Sure. Sometimes I can walk out the. And I just, I hear this music fill the air and it's just so nice because that's not something you're used to hearing. And you're just kicking back in front of your store, playing the banjo in the middle of the day. It's lovely.

Draw a Talking Point Card

Christa 18:35

So I'm gonna have you draw a card, Now these cards have nothing to do with business,

18:41

They're called talking point cards, and I use 'em around the dinner table with my kids

Christa 18:44

Okay, so go ahead and pick a card and read that question and give me your answer.

Georgia 18:49

Okay. Let's see what we again, what do you wish you had more time for?

Christa 18:55

Let's hear it.

Georgia 18:57

I wish I had more time to not have something scheduled. I wish I had just. more Of Downtime because I don't know about you, but every single minute it seems like of my days get completely scheduled up. And it would be nice to just have a little

Christa 19:13

little bit more time where it's just free time that I can do what I want and not what I need to do.

Georgia 19:18

A hundred percent. A hundred

Christa 19:20

percent agree with you.

Georgia 19:22

Maybe I just wanna take the dog for a walk and I or and just go down and sit by the water the beach. And there's not a lot of, and I know, and I say this to my husband a lot, I say it's going to, our kids are gonna be gone and we're gonna have all the time in the world and the house is gonna be so quiet. And it's coming before we know it. Yeah. And so we should this while we have it. But I really would just like to be able. I have nothing on the agenda.

Christa 19:48

Thank you for doing that. Absolutely. Okay.

Events and Specials

Christa 19:51

Before we go, I wanted to find out if you have any upcoming events or any specials that you're running that our listeners need to know about.

Georgia 19:58

So I am trying, I try to do sample Saturdays. I try to do at least one every couple of months. I always advertise them. I do. Corporate events and private events. And so if people are interested in that, all they have to do is call. I actually have one coming up next week. Tell me about those. What is that like? So the few that I've done, three so far, and what I do is I provide food two dishes two Drinks with the recipes. And then they also get two bottles two small bottles of oil or vinegar, oil, whatever you want. You can pick whichever two. You. Okay. You do. And that's usually about $35 per person. it lasts a couple of hours. People can come in, try things, have some dishes, talk and enjoy themselves.

Christa 20:44

Oh, they come right here to the store.

Georgia 20:45

here to the store. Yes. Yes.

Christa 20:48

Any specials?

Georgia 20:49

Yes. If people will like and share the podcast up until May the 13th, you can come in and show me that you've liked and shared the podcast on Facebook, I'm happy to give whoever that is, 10% off of whatever they decide to buy from the

Christa 21:04

store. I love it. Thank you so

Georgia 21:06

much,

Thank You and Contact Info for Georgia

Georgia 21:07

Yes, you're very welcome.

Christa 21:09

It's been so nice talking to you. You're so wonderful. You're And you made my first podcast the best. And I just wanna thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Georgia 21:17

Oh, you're welcome. I'm happy to do it.

Christa 21:18

I do wanna talk about the details real quick. Hampstead Oils and Vinegars, it's located in the Oak Tree Center. It's at 16 717, US Highway 17, and Georgia is in suite two oh four. Her phone number is (910) 821-1373. You can also reach her via email at Hampstead oils gmail.com, and your website is Hampstead oils.com If you can't get this written down, then just look in my podcast notes and I'll have it there for you. So thank you so much for joining us today. I hope you come back for more and thank you again, Georgia, for being my very first podcast interview. You're welcome. Thanks for asking me.

Contact Christa @ Topsail Insider

Christa 22:00

Hey, thank you for joining me today on Topsail Insider. If you like today's episode, please hit the follow or subscribe button so that you can get the Topsail Insider Podcast delivered automatically to whichever podcast platform you're listening on. And if you're a business owner and you wish to set up a pre-interview or you want to advertise, please email me at topsailinsider@gmail.com. Please also find, and like the Topsail Insider Facebook page, I provide links to the new podcast there each week, as well as providing photos of the businesses that I'm highlighting along with any of their upcoming events. So, hey, let's do this again next week. I'll see you around Topsail