WHY IS OUR BRAND YAGDERESI?

When we first started this business, one of the biggest challenges we faced was finding a brand name. We constantly read articles on the subject, listened to the stories of as many big brands as possible, and asked friends and acquaintances we trusted for their ideas. In that short time, we were bombarded with so much information, both necessary and unnecessary, that it was inevitable we'd get confused. Of course, we were aware of individuals and companies that handled this professionally. But we thought that we could best express our story and what we wanted to do ourselves.

The first name we considered was "delice"... meaning wild olive. Moreover, our entire organic olive grove consists of wild olive trees grafted onto delice, specifically the Memecik variety. And its story is wonderful; first, a blackbird comes and eats an olive. Then, the olive pits, after passing through its crop and becoming thinner during digestion, fall to the ground and germinate. And voilà, there you have it, an olive tree! Sounds great... Wonderful! But we needed to increase the options because we might have to eliminate some later on. (Which is what happened J)

Just then, we found a second alternative: "blackbird." When you say it like that, you picture a black hen running around frantically, but it's not. It's actually a tiny bird with jet-black feathers, an orange beak, and delicate feet… It possesses incredible beauty. Moreover, it's so important for olives that if their species becomes extinct, it would mean the end of the olive trees. The idea was nice, but the way it was said didn't sound pleasant at all. Just then, while browsing the internet, we came across an article prepared for the Turkish Language Association about the blackbird. It included regional names for the bird: çıralıburun, potak, bozbakal, karabakal, koskos… We added a few to the list.

We needed to increase the alternatives, and it had to be something that belonged to us. Why not the name of our village; its old name was Asitepe, its new name is Güzeltepe… So we added those as well.

Then the name "Yağderesi" (Oil Stream) came to mind. After all, all our ancestors had processed their olives in stone mills in the area they called Yağderesi in our village for generations, and held harvest festivals there. It evoked a beautiful association, was easy to remember, sounded pleasant, and most importantly, it was part of the memories of some of us and the stories we still hear. So we added it to the list…

After eliminating some options over time, some voluntarily and some out of necessity, "Asitepe" and "Yağderesi" remained as the final two. We couldn't give up on either of them and finally made our decision: our company name became Asitepe Olive Oil Production Industry and Trade Ltd. Co., and our brand name became "Yağderesi".

We generally receive positive feedback on this and people love our brand. We hope and wish to continue offering our organic olive oil production, a tradition passed down from our ancestors for generations, with the "Yağderesi" quality for many more years to come.

Burcu ÇOBAN COŞKUN