When British chef Thomas Straker filmed himself mixing wild garlic into butter throughout lockdown, he didn’t know he was about to by chance reinvent a complete class. “He did a quenelle of butter and mentioned, ‘Welcome to all issues butter,’” remembers co‑founder Toby Hopkinson. These 5 phrases supercharged his TikTok channel – Straker’s comply with‑up, the 30 Butters in 30 Days problem, took him from 100,000 followers to 1,000,000 in a month – and spurred the launch of All Issues Butter, a wildly profitable butter model.
He didn’t do it alone. He joined forces with Toby Hopkinson, a development marketer with stints at different viral manufacturers equivalent to Harry’s, Away and CBD drink model Journey, and the pair got down to modernise a butter aisle that regarded frozen in time – dominated by personal‑label blocks and heritage manufacturers, with close to‑equivalent gold and silver foils and little to excite youthful consumers.
“Millennials and Gen Z cook dinner with oils – seed oils, olive oil – whereas my mum’s technology cooked with butter. Tom was displaying them its versatility and richness of flavour,” says Hopkinson. Capitalising on this success, they launched in October 2023, serendipitous timing in keeping with Hopkinson: “The celebrities aligned for us,” he says. “There was this backlash towards UPFs, lockdown had folks cooking once more, and butter was having a resurgence. Folks have been re‑educating themselves about wholesome fat.”
Social first, shelf second
True to its origin story, All Issues Butter maintained the philosophy of content material first, retail second entrance and centre. “We’re, by a rustic mile, the biggest follower dairy model on social media – and nonetheless are,” says Hopkinson. Certainly, so far ATB’s content material has clocked 1bn views.
However whereas model buzz can get you observed, Hopkinson and Straker knew higher than to imagine that longevity would come from prioritising fashion over substance. “Fairly packaging may get you six months. After that, the product has to cook dinner and style higher. Customers are savvy – they count on an elevated product below the wrapper,” says Hopkinson.
Reaching that whereas remaining worthwhile has been a steep studying curve for the buddies. “Our benefit is that none of us got here from dairy – and our drawback is… none of us got here from dairy,” he says with amusing. The upshot: a willingness to query class norms and a crash course in cream markets.
Whereas the celebrities had aligned for a butter revamp amongst youthful consumers, for provide chain stability, they have been much less fortunate. “We couldn’t have launched at a worse time,” Hopkinson admits. “Inside six months, cream had doubled. When your uncooked materials is 50% of value, that annihilates your margin.”
He laughs now, nevertheless it was brutal: “We’d been in supermarkets for 4 weeks – the very last thing you wish to do is ask for a 50% value improve. So we took the hit. It was one of many hardest durations we’ve been by means of.”
“Dairy pricing is extremely complicated,” Hopkinson says. “Climate, vitality, feed, geopolitics – Ukraine conflict, blue tongue outbreaks – all of it hits cream. AI can’t predict it.” Right this moment, the workforce hedges, ahead‑buys and even freezes butter to clean the spikes.
They’re assured in regards to the value level too, which is way beneath expensive French imports. “We don’t make loopy margins,” Hopkinson says. “However we imagine in high quality. Twice‑churned, creamy, structured – not pumped with water. It takes out extra moisture, so it’s creamier and has higher texture. In the event you unwrap ours and an personal‑label, even with no educated palate, you’ll style the distinction.”
New SKUs
Whereas All Issues Butter has 5 flavoured choices in the marketplace (garlic, chocolate, cinnamon bun, smoky paprika and brandy butter for Christmas) it’s the salted and unsalted that promote greatest. However they’re quickly to be joined by one other class altogether: cottage cheese, below the All Issues Dairy umbrella. “We trademarked ‘All Issues’ as a result of we needed to remain in dairy. Butter felt like the most important alternative – however we knew we’d go additional,” says Hopkinson.
However why cottage cheese? “Three macro developments: intestine well being, protein, clear label,” he explains. “Cottage cheese ticks all three. It’s excessive protein, has cultures, and we maintain it clear – no potassium sorbate. Meaning 30‑day shelf life as an alternative of 90, which is a ache for provide chain, nevertheless it’s non‑negotiable.”
As with the butter sector, the agency has an unflavoured core product in addition to fascinating combos. “We’re launching pure, mango and combined berry. Candy is booming within the US – Good Tradition can’t make sufficient of it,” he says. “However in time we’ll do savoury too: garlic and herb, candy chilli. There’s a great deal of scope.”
The street forward
So what’s subsequent for the start-up? Hopkinson isn’t pondering exit but: “Each time we have a look at the chance – class, worldwide – there’s a lot to go at. Promoting now would really feel like failure.”
As an alternative, the workforce are exploring extra alternatives equivalent to cream cheese and yoghurt, however all the time with a brand new tackle an previous class. Just like the Dyson of dairy? Hopkinson grins: “Ask me in a few years. I hope I can say sure. We’re attempting to be.”
