​Focus On Butters & Spreads: 25 May

By Harry Holmes holmesharry99@gmail.com

Publishing: 25 May 2024

Advertising deadline: 10 May 2024

Submissions deadline: 6 May 2024

Print, digital and sponsorship opportunities

Butter is getting a chef-style makeover. In a bid to get consumers to trade up, both new and existing brands are touting the culinary and quality credentials of their more premium lines. One brand debuted a flavoured range led by chef Thomas Straker last year. Flavour is also a focus at M&S, which stocks lines such as chilli & lime and garlic & herb butter. At the same time, mainstream brands at the higher end of the market are proving their worth with marketing that pushes home their quality credentials, and recipes that use their butters. So how successful are these efforts proving? To what extent is home cooking a growing market for butter – especially as olive oil prices continue to climb? And what does this mean for spreads?

Mainstream brands: How is the trend for premium butter impacting the fortunes of the top 10 brands? Higher-priced lines are bucking the volume decline. To what extent is this down to their higher-end credentials? How have they persuaded shoppers to part with their cash?

Challengers: To what extent are challengers tapping the trend for quality lines? What are they offering that is different to the established lineup, and how many listings have they been able to secure?

Usage occasions: To what extent are premium butters appealing to home cooks? Are some cooks switching away from oils as prices rise? And what other usage occasions do these high-end lines play into?

Provenance: A few butters & spreads brands are playing on provenance as a marker of quality. Who’s doing this best, and to what extent do these claims resonate with shoppers?

Spreads: What is going on in the spreads market? Are spreads also pushing premium credentials? Or is value more important in this part of the market? Who is doing well/who’s not and why?

Plant-based: One brand is bringing out its own plant-based line this year. To what extent is there a market for premium plant-based lines? How is the plant-based sector faring and what are the most important selling points here?

Innovation: We will profile four new products or ranges, ideally ones that have not appeared in The Grocer before. We need launch date, rsp, and a hi-res picture of each.