Delizia Olive Oil Co. has come up with a marketing strategy that
deserves an award for sheer chutzpah: gourmet bulk.  Where
premium quality California oil cannot be produced for less than
about $24 a gallon wholesale, the Oakland company, a division of
Veronica Foods, can offer oil from the Mediterranean at $12 to
$15 a gallon.  Insiders in the food industry have tapped into
this fact. Delizia's oil, which is rarely found retail and
typically comes in huge, 2.6-gallon dispensers, is used by the
chefs at the Pasta Shop in Rockridge to make its prepared foods,
as well as by such restaurants as Lalime's in Berkeley and the
baker Semifreddi's in Emeryville.  "We're very fussy when it
comes to something like olive oil," says Sandy Sonnenfelt, who
coordinates the Pasta Shop's delicatessen foods, and reports
that a lot of people are involved in the choice of this
ingredient, which they use both in cooking and as a condiment.
"It's a perishable product, and there's a lot of money invested
in it. For us, it was very d