Thomas Straker, above, and Toby Hopkinson are behind the new British organic
butter brand, All Things Butter. Here, they tell SME Magazine about their
business
What inspired you to set up All Things Butter?
Thomas: All Things Butter started as an Instagram and TikTok video posted on my
channel over lockdown, starting with a butter a day for 30 days, which then
turned into a viral social series. It was fantastic to see the demand and interest,
which led Toby and I to put our heads together as we saw something further in
this…
We visited over 30 supermarkets to conduct market research and felt the dairy
category hadn’t been disrupted, with supermarket shelves dominated by
traditional, heritage led brands. With no one fighting back against the dairy-free
and plant-based products that were rapidly taking category share, it felt there was
a perfect place to disrupt. Introducing All Things Butter – the first chef-led approach that brings a flavour range to British organic butter, putting British farming at the forefront.
Toby: Our mission at All Things Butter is to get more consumers using butter in
their everyday cooking due to its excellent taste but also importantly due to the
fact that butter is a natural ingredient which holds nutritional value. The butter industry has faced a difficult time over the last 30 or so years with butter alternatives growing, whilst consumers are increasingly replacing butter with cooking oils in their day to day cooking. We hope with our platform we can educate the consumer that buying fantastic butter can significantly elevate your everyday cooking and can act as a strong replacement over olive oil or with our flavoured butter, even substituting a pasta sauce.
How did you two meet? How do you work together?
Toby: Thomas and I go back over 20 years. We were best mates at school and
since then have gone on to open Straker’s restaurant together, launch a social
media production studio and now launch All Things Butter.
Thomas: Despite being so close we have very opposite skill sets that allow us to
work well together. Toby is very much in the numbers, the operational side
of the business… where I like to get into the creative side of things and just ensure
that the product is something that I am proud of putting out.
How did you overcome any early challenges?
Toby: My biggest challenge is working with a perfectionist chef on NPD…
Thomas: Toby may have a point, however I’m very stubborn and was adamant
that I was not putting a product out there that I wasn’t going to use in my own
kitchen. We got there in the end and I think everyone will be super happy with
the outcome.
You’ve recently secured some new funding. Tell us about that.
Toby: We are delighted to announce that we have secured a pre-seed funding of
over £530,000 ahead of our launch in November. Led by myself and our adviser,
Gavin Youll, the funding round included serial investor in consumer brands, Adam
Levene, along with co-founders of Lucky Chap Entertainment, Josey McNarma
and Thomas Ackerley, who produced 2023’s biggest box office hit, Barbie.
The funds raised will be predominantly spent on working capital to ensure
production of enough stock to supply retail demand, as well as a few key hires
including an Operations Manager and a National Account Manager. 
Looking back, what have been your favourite moments?
Toby: I personally love creating brands, in particular creating brands in a category
that has had little innovation in the last 40 or so years. The process of creating the All Things Butter brands was just so fun to do, I kinda went in with the brief of… let’s be the polar opposite to anything that is currently on the market!
Thomas: For me it’s going down to the farm and seeing the full process of how
our butter is made. Our team in Glastonbury have such incredible dedication to
the process and are still making butter in the traditional ways…
Where do you hope All Things Butter will be in say, five or ten years’ time?
Toby: We have very high ambitions, we want to be the largest dairy business in
the UK along with having a strong presence in other territories. We believe that
diary deserves to fight back and hopefully we are the ones to do it!
