Mother-daughter team opens Simply Infused in Mt Laurel

A mother-daughter team will hold the official grand-opening in Mt Laurel on Wednesday, April 1 of Simply Infused, a new shop featuring olive oils and Balsamics from around the world.

The olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting room is owned by Cheryl Harper and her 15-year-old daughter, Loreleigh. Cheryl Harper left a 25-year career in information technology and management at Hewlett-Packard to start the business venture with her daughter.

“I missed so much quality time with her that I wanted to step out on faith and do something together with my daughter,” she said.

 Loreleigh, who comes in to help in the shop after school and on weekends, said she is excited to work together with her mother. "Before this, we didn't get to spend much quality time together," she said.

The business name comes from the concept of “simply infusing authentic olive oil” products into the Mt Laurel community, Harper said. Though Simply Infused held a soft opening two weeks ago, Harper purposely chose the day known as April Fool’s Day for the official ribbon-cutting of Simply Infused. The ribbon cutting with officilas from the Greater Shelby Chamber of Commerce will take place at 3:30 p.m. April 1 at the shop/tasting room, 11 Olmstead St. in Mt Laurel.

  “People have been fooled by what some stores present as extra virgin olive oil when it’s not,” Harper said in an interview at her shop. “We intentionally opened on April Fools Day as we educate our community on the truth in olive oils and allow them to taste how a ‘true’ extra virgin olive oil is supposed to smell and taste.

 Simply Infused has a tasting room that allows customers to taste and experience more than 50 varieties of imported extra virgin olive oils and aged balsamic vinegars shipped in from around the world, Harper said. They can be used to boost the flavorings of foods from steaks to salads, she said.

“Customers can try as many pairings as they can imagine, representing extraordinary examples of unique quality and pairings impossible to duplicate in traditional supermarket brands,” Harper said.

Simply Infused, the first of its kind in Shelby County, joins a national trend as olive oil shops are catching popularity across the country. The Mt Laurel sales office says Simply Infused is a great fit for the community, and joins a growing retail center providing a variety of services for residents.

The idea for Simply Infused sprouted from a vacation Harper and her daughter made to an olive oil shop in Biltmore Village in Asheville, N.C. in November 2012.

“We were shocked and amazed at the quality of the taste and on the way home Loreleigh and I talked about opening our own shop one day,” Harper said.

The Harpers, who live in Mt Laurel, would ride by their future store location and envision one day opening a shop there. The building previously housed a church, and features former pews  converted into shelves.

“Two years later, in November 2014, I left my job in corporate America and started the process that got us to where we are today,” Harper said.

To research for their new venture, Harper took her daughter last December on a 17-day cross-country trip from Alabama to California, stopping by olive oil shops and vacation sites such as the Grand Canyon along the route.

“We visited olive oil shops from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Ventura, Calif.,” she said. “We are using techniques we learned from the best.”

Harper said their products come from olives grown and pressed by artisans and small farms throughout the world. “They are  100 percent extra virgin,” she said.. “They are not blends adulterated with lower quality oils or other additives.”

Simply Infused’s all-natural Balsamic Vinegars are harvested in Modena, Italy, and they too have health benefits such as helping control blood sugar and reducing high blood pressure, Harper said.

 Besides dozens of olive oil and balsamic vinegars, Simply Infused also carries other olive-oil-based products, incuding shampoo, soap and chocolate bars. The shop also features $20 "Gratitude Bracelets" made out of olive pits. Simply Infused will host a second ribbon cutting on Friday April 10 at 11 a.m. with the South Shelby County Chamber of Commerce.