Gregg Kelly’s long view: “quality drives consumption”

It’s a startling statistic. In just eight years since Gregg Kelley took over as CEO at California Olive Ranch (COR), the company’s revenues have rocketed from $2 million to an anticipated $80 million by the end of 2015. “When I started,” he told Forbes magazine recently, “we had one grocery store. Now we have well over 20,000 retailers.” Under Kelley’s leadership, the company’s extra virgin olive oils, which include those under the COR label together with Lucini Italia, which Kelley acquired in January of this year, are now the fourth largest-selling brands in the United States.