The dairy product that’s become an unlikely luxury item: super-premium butter
Whether it’s organic, grass-fed or made with an antique churn, once you acquire a taste for fancier, fattier butter, there’s no turning back
Every other Friday, exactly at 3pm, a highly coveted product goes on sale and sells out within minutes.
Saxelby Cheesemongers sells up to 60 pounds (27kg) of cult favourite Animal Farm Creamery butter at an eye-popping US$60 per pound during its online-only flash sales. The average cost of butter is about US$4.36 per pound. Made in Vermont, Animal Farm’s super-creamy cultured butter isn’t available almost anywhere else.
Americans are increasingly willing to splurge on fancier, fattier butter – prized for its richer flavour and velvety-smooth mouthfeel. A bumpy economy and high inflation have pushed supermarket prices up roughly 25 per cent over the last five years, but people with money to spend are still shelling out on little luxuries. High-end butter for cooking, baking and slathering straight from the package is the latest indulgence.
Marc Dobiecki, 64, loves that the Animal Farm butter “sits on your tongue a little bit more”. He recently spent US$108 for a pound, including shipping, after two previous failed attempts to get some. He prevailed on his third try, racing to place the order while boarding a plane.
“I held up traffic,” he said. “You’ve got to really want this butter.”
Sales of super-premium butter and premium butter surged double digits over the last year, outpacing the growth of mainstream butter, which saw sales tick up 1.1 per cent, according to NielsenIQ. The market research firm said mainstream butter has been losing market share, declining to under 30 per cent from nearly 34 per cent two years ago.
