In our latest blog, we like to share you a personal reflection on the rollercoaster journey of Be Better My Friend. Launched at the end of 2021, it has been a thrilling ride filled with excitement, frustration, resilience, and conviction. In this blog, we share
How the bakery landscape is changing Across Europe and beyond, bakeries and pastry chefs are navigating a fast-changing environment. Rising ingredient costs, growing consumer expectations, and sustainability pressures are pushing professionals to rethink not just recipes but as well strategy. In this context, chefs are
Switching from butter (or a butter-margarine blend) to a new fat like Be Better can feel risky, even if the product turns out better and cheaper. Why? Because butter isn’t just an ingredient. For many bakers, it’s part of the brand story But the truth
In bakeries across Europe, the conversation around sustainability and carbon reduction moved to the background. It is this big hairy problem no one really wants to talk about, but it’s becoming unavoidable. Pressures from regulation, supply chain disruptions, volatile input prices, and changing customer expectations
Discover how artisan and semi-industrial bakers can beat supermarkets by switching from margarine to Be Better plant-based butter. Better ingredients lead to stronger brands, higher prices, and loyal customers. Walk into any supermarket today and the pastry aisle looks like it came straight out of
Hi there, I’m Joost, together with Marike van Beurden, we founded Be Better My Friend. It all started end of 2019. Marike van Beurden approached me in my role of global director of Cacao Barry. She asked if I could help fund her pastry book.
Cookies are no longer just treats—they’re growth engines. In today’s baking world, they’ve become one of the smartest ways for artisan and semi-industrial bakeries to build loyalty, boost profits, and speak directly to the next generation of customers. If you’re not using cookies to scale
Plant-butter that performs, proof that convinces In the world of modern pastry, few names carry more influence than Toni Rodríguez. A chef, educator, and pastry innovator, Toni has spent over 2 decades proving that plant-based pastry can meet and exceed the standards of traditional techniques.
Butter is great. Familiar. Trusted. But in many of your recipes, it’s a financial and operational blind spot. If you’re still using dairy butter where its taste doesn’t shine—you’re burning money. And no, we’re not here to bash butter. We’re here to apply common sense.
Picture this: You’re in a grand concert hall. The orchestra is ready, the lights dim. The first note plays… but there’s a constant hum in the background. Not loud, but always there, muddying the clarity. That’s what butter does in pastry. Butter is rich, it’s
Pastry is evolving. Not through loud campaigns or industry mandates, but through quiet, deliberate choices made by chefs in their kitchens: silent veganism. It’s not a movement.
