Before oat milk hit coffee shop menus and nut butters filled supermarket aisles, one South African brand was already ahead of the curve. ButtaNutt, founded by Antoine van Heerden back in 2012, began with a love for macadamias and a mission to make wholesome, plant-based eating accessible to locals. Fast-forward 11 years, and the brand’s creamy nut butters, milks and yoghurts have become pantry staples. We caught up with Antoine to talk about brand growth, the health and wellness industry and how ButtaNutt continues to churn out innovation and deliciousness.
How did you convince people to try macadamia butter over their regular peanut butter?
My parents started farming macadamias around twenty years ago. The Mpumalanga Lowveld is one of the largest macadamia-growing regions in the world, so everyone from street vendors to farm stalls and retailers sells something macadamia-related.
I remember buying local macadamia butter from a farm stall nearby and absolutely loving how rich, neutral and creamy it tasted. It was a great alternative to peanut butter. Being naturally ground without stabilisers, it was quite unique and different from most peanut butters on the market.
ButtaNutt turned 11 this year. How has the brand’s identity evolved since its inception?
ButtaNutt started as a macadamia-focused brand and over the years this evolved into all things plant-based, including high-quality peanut butter, milk alternatives, plant-based yoghurts and environmentally-friendly coconut water.
In a way, the brand identity has not changed, in that we still want to make healthy and delicious plant-based foods accessible to as many South Africans as possible.
Macadamias are the most expensive nuts. How has ButtaNutt managed accessibility for consumers?
The simple fact of local supply has given us a competitive advantage on macadamias…
Processors tend to focus on their highest grade nuts first, and neglect the slightly lower grade nuts that won’t make the ‘snacking’ category. ButtaNutt procures these nuts from various suppliers throughout the season, thereby helping processors sell a range of nuts. As a result, we are able to produce high-quality macadamia products at competitive prices.
SA is the world’s largest macadamia producer. How does local sourcing influence taste?
As with all fresh products, the sooner you can use it, the better. All nuts suffer from rancidity over time if storage conditions are not optimal, which is one of the reasons we source locally as far as possible. Our macadamias are from the Lowveld, almonds from Paardeberg and Klein Karoo, pecans and peanuts from the Northern Cape and our cashews come from Mozambique.
What inspired the brand to add other nut butters and milk alternatives to the range?
Customer feedback led us to produce a range of nut butters, including almond, cashew and pecan – we did this fairly early on. The macadamia industry is also a tiny drop in the global ‘tree nut bucket.’ That means it has much less budget for research or marketing.
As with most of our product development, I took a liking to other nut butters and milk alternatives. The milks were very challenging to develop and took us a few years of experimentation, but it seemed like a category that appealed to a much larger audience, and we were eager to become a local player, as the category has historically been imported.
Sustainability matters. How does the team promote environmental sustainability?
Our commitment to local procurement is something we are really proud of. Some of our suppliers have been on this journey with us since day one. It is amazing to see how far we have come.
Having travelled a bit abroad, I can safely say that South Africa has some of the best produce in the world. We believe that adopting a more plant-based diet and making it more accessible and affordable to more South Africans will have the biggest impact on sustainability.
What’s been the biggest business challenge?
In the last three years, we have grown our business from twenty-five to one-hundred-and-forty employees, so remembering everyone’s name has been a challenge!
But in all seriousness, the systems and the HR component have struggled to keep up with the growth, and with that, it has been a challenge to maintain the company culture. Hope, faith and trust are important, but the biggest and most pressing challenge is managing cash flow.
And the most rewarding part?
Lately, it has been rewarding to hear and see employees loving the workplace, the challenges and the success they work hard for day in and day out.
Product development is one of the business’ focuses. What pushes you to keep innovating?
Innovation is evolution, and if a business can’t keep evolving, then it will eventually become obsolete.
On a lighter note, I love the creative side of food and food innovation. It comes naturally to me and keeps me motivated. If it weren’t for our curiosity to develop plant-based milks, we would not have had the success we had, and quite possibly would not have existed or been in business today.
How has ButtaNutt’s brand strategy shifted to grow within the health and wellness category?
The brand is all things ‘plant-based,’ which we believe is better for the environment. It has been surprising how adoptive ButtaNutt’s customer base has been to the new categories we’ve launched, including rusks, yoghurts, plant-based milks, coconut water and peanut butter. We believe there are many more plant-based opportunities to explore.
Favourite food trend at the moment?
My wife and I have been experimenting with fermented foods, including our own buckwheat breads, coconut kefir and kimchi.
From an industry trend perspective, it seems all the craze is on protein, which remains challenging for the plant-based industry, but I believe the options will keep getting better.
Running a brand can be consuming. What keeps you grounded outside of work?
I love being active and try to exercise daily, ideally first thing in the morning, even if it is only a 20-minute jog. I am a better person after a bit of fresh air and exercise. Other than that, my three kids (two are still in nappies) keep me pretty grounded and occupied.
Any exciting plans lined up?
Yes! We have a label update that we are pretty excited about, and hope customers will like. We have gone a bit more modern and simplistic – things got a bit confusing as we kept adding products to the range over the years.
We hope to keep expanding in plant-based drinks. We are expanding our unsweetened range of milks to include almond, macadamia, cashew and soy. We hope to launch some 500 ml high-protein milks next year, and we are experimenting with some unique cold brews.
Expanding our factory shop in Paarl to include our own coffee, smoothies and fresh treats is also part of the plan. We are hoping to partner with pumpforpeace.com and build a ButtaNutt community cycling pump track in Paarl next year, with the goal of making cycling and action sports more accessible to our community than ever before.
Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
Life is like surfing – sometimes you are paddling out against the waves and other times you are riding them back in. Life has its ups and downs – embrace them and know the longer and harder the paddle out, the sweeter the surf is back in.
NEW! Unsweetened Cashew Nut Milk
Explore the ButtaNutt range and keep up with the brand at the links below.
