How Citizens of Soil Is Reinventing Olive Oil

In this week’s episode, I’m joined by Sarah and Michael Vachon, the founders of Citizens of Soil, one of the most exciting challenger brands in food and drink right now. We explore how they are transforming olive oil from a commoditised pantry staple into a brand built on transparency, craft, regenerative farming and fairer value for producers, while building a modern consumer brand with real emotional connection and standout commercial momentum.

What I loved about this conversation is that it is about so much more than premium olive oil. Sarah and Michael share how they spotted a broken supply chain, why they chose to back small producers and female-led groves, and how a simple shift from calling something a subscription to calling it a club changed the business's growth trajectory. If you are building a consumer brand and thinking about community, premiumisation, founder focus and how to create real value in a category, there is so much to learn here.

What You’ll Learn
- Why Citizens of Soil saw a much bigger opportunity than simply selling premium olive oil

- How changing “subscription” to “club” drove a dramatic increase in member growth

- What founders can learn from borrowing packaging and positioning cues from adjacent categories

- Why direct customer insight and social listening led to the launch of the Health Club

- How Sarah and Michael are balancing rapid growth, team building and direct producer relationships

Key Topics Discussed
- Rebuilding value in a commoditised olive oil category

- Regenerative farming and fairer producer economics

- Borrowing premium cues from the wine category

- DTC growth and the Olive Oil Club model

- Community building versus transactional selling

- Nutrition-led innovation and high polyphenol oils

- Retail growth across Waitrose, Ocado, Booths, Fortnum & Mason and Selfridges

- Building a team to support DTC and brand-led growth

- Working as a husband-and-wife founder team

- Premium pricing, value creation and consumer behaviour

Useful Links
Website https://www.citizensofsoil.com/
Connect with Michael https://www.linkedin.com/in/vachonline/
Connect with Sarah https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahfulton/
Connect with Citizens of Soil on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/citizens-of-soil/posts/?feedView=all

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*****Thanks to Brand Growth Heroes’ podcast sponsor Joelson, a B Corp-certified commercial law firm****************

If you're a founder, you already know how much energy goes into building the perfect product, creating standout branding and connecting with consumers.

Scaling a CPG business also brings legal complexities that can make or break your growth journey - from contracts and regulatory compliance to protecting your intellectual property.
That’s why we’re proud to partner with Joelson, the leading commercial law firm specialising in helping founders of scaling consumer brands.

Joelson works with brands like Little Moons, TRIP, Two Chicks, graze and Crosta & Mollica, and advised the Innocent founders on their landmark sale to Coca-Cola - and still work with them today!

Joelson are SO brilliant that they are offering a free consultation to any CPG brand founder - book your consultation with one of the Joelson lawyers here: https://joelsonlaw.com/contact/bookings/

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Thanks to our Sound Engineer Gyp Buggane at Ballagroove.com and podcast producer/content creator Kathryn Watts, Social KEWS https://socialkews.co.uk/