The secret of butter: traditions and versatility

One of the most interesting domestic FMCG retail trends has been that the butter category managed to increase sales, while cheaper butter, cheese and curd creams lost from their market shares. Sándor Hidegh, Meggle Hungary Kft.’s country manager told Trade magazin that butter contains essential fatty acids which are vital for the human body. It also contains vitamins, especially A, D and E vitamin and as for its cholesterol content, research proved that the consumption of 300 mg cholesterol in food per day is suggested. Bernadett Strasser-Kátai, the owner-managing director of MONA Hungary called our attention to the fact that bread and butter is a cornerstone of breakfast in Hungarian households. She also added that more cooking is done at home these days and butter is one of the most important base materials of cakes and desserts. With this trend in mind the company introduced new herb butters under their Montice brand. MONA Hungary distributes premium butters, medium category brands and premium private labels. Their 82% butter is made from pure cream, while their 60% product is perfect for those on a diet or weight loss regime. Dr Zoltán Hagymási, Nádudvari Élelmiszer Kft.’s marketing consultant opined that constant good quality preserves consumer loyalty. In Nádudvar butter is made from selected fresh base material, using the traditional churning method. Different spreadable creams are relatively new products, which means that a lack of consumption traditions results in various different packaging sizes and flavours. Butter is more of a traditional product: 90-95 percent of sales are realised by plain butter, salted and herb versions only have a small market share. Manufacturers and distributors are now working on creating new segments by innovation. One of the directions is making butter that is more easily spreadable – the problem is that this often entails a change in flavour. Nádudvari Élelmiszer Kft.’s experience is that butter buyers are loyal to their brands and they do not substitute products with different spreadable creams; those who prefer margarines also stick with it. Lurpak is a brand of Danish company ARLA Foods, whose slogan is ’closer to nature’ because they use clean, natural base materials. ARLA products are distributed by Foodnet Kft. in Hungary and their representative, Anna Kaposvári told Trade magazin that the mildly salty category of the Lurpak brand was expanding; sales of Lurpak Spreadable was also growing – this product unites the naturalness of butter with the spreadability of margarine. It is interesting that Lurpak sponsors the TV shows of both Jamie Oliver and Judit Stahl. The company will also support the Taste of Budapest section of the Kitchen Exhibition (4-6 March 2011). Meggle’s herb butters and yoghurt butters are increasingly popular. This autumn 150-g Meggle herb butters will appear in stores at the price of the usual 125-g version. Nádudvari’s butter range is the only one awarded with the Hungarian Product Grand Prix in the category; the range consists of 100-g, 200-g and 5-kg gastro products. They are the only domestic company that manufactures salted butter. Nádudvari’s marketing strategy is perfectly grasped by their slogan: Hungarian in every flavour.