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 our story and the key learnings that have shaped our business as we embark on the next chapter.
The Idea: Everything is Possible
When we decided to create a sustainable alternative to traditional butter, we started with a big idea and ambition. Every year, 12 million tons of butter are produced. While it’s an amazing product, it’s carbon-rich, bad for health due to cholesterol, saturated fats, and lactose, and catastrophic for animals and rainforests. By offering an easy 1:1 alternative without compromising on quality, workability, and costs, we were confident bakers and pastry chefs would make the switch quickly. The involvement of over 20 well-established chefs from across Europe in the development and validation strengthened our conviction. The first learning: having a chef’s interest and a perfect pitch doesn’t guarantee a buy.
Realisation: It’s Not So Easy
From day one, our focus was on sales as our product worked. Fueled with ambition, we targeted large bakers to quickly gain traction and volume and ensure cash inflow, as we had no investors. It didn’t work; we spent a lot of time but learned large producers were interested but not ready for plant-butter. Aside from large bakers, we quickly built a network of gourmet distributors in Europe, leveraging our past network. COVID helped as people had plenty of time and not much work. However, being listed doesn’t mean your product sells. Confidence in sales was lacking. We needed to provide leads to get the flywheel turning. Discipline is key here as you face hundreds of NO’s (don’t take it personally) before getting your first YES, which keeps you going.
Disaster: It’s Super Tough
We launched during global chaos, and it hasn’t stopped since. COVID, the Ukraine war that halted sunflower supply, surging prices of ingredients, transport and energy, rising inflation, and staff shortages. Imagine trying to convince bakers to try a new plant-butter to replace an ingredient they love, while they manage energy costs rising from €200K to €600K. How important were we?
Despite this, we were convinced by the proven quality, benefits, need for change, and the few loyal customers we have gained. They say entrepreneurs need irrational optimism and belief in their idea. When things get tough, most stop and start a new ‘even better’ idea, only to realize every business must go through the mud. There is no shortcut. Success comes to those who pass through this.
Informed and Cautious Optimism: It is all about people
Despite being a small company with two founders, three freelancers, and no investors, we do a lot with little. Limited funds make you focus on what matters and prevent you for developing a company that becomes addicted to money.
As we grow, we are designing a company that is centered around human experiences. The world is changing fast, with automation and AI replacing more and more. While it brings a lot of good, we lose what makes us human and what makes life special. We should celebrate imperfection, irrationality, and human connection. Our company’s power lies in connection. It’s all about food that is pure and guilt-free. It’s about creativity. It is about having good conversations with good friends while enjoying good food. Isn’t that the most beautiful thing in life?
Yes, we will automate and integrate AI, but people will make us win. They buy our product, they endorse us, open their network, take risks, and financially support us.
Success: Food is Not Tech
It’s people again. Tech is about disruption, fast growth, and changing behaviours. Food is different, and it took us a while to understand this. Food is about trust and slow evolution, chef by chef. Disruption was attempted with veganism. Governments, companies, and retail forced people to change what to eat. That backlashed, and veganism lost its shine. People don’t like being forced. Food is profound. Food is culture and childhood memory.
But since a year we see a change. We’ve entered the era of ‘silent veganism’.
Loneliness: It’s a Rollercoaster
Running Be Better My Friend for 3.5 years has made us disciplined, resilient, and focused. You can’t rely on others, and seeking validation from them is pointless. They have no idea what you’re going through. Every day involves making impossible choices, like Elon Musk said: choosing between continuing chewing glass or jumping into the unknown abyss. It’s tough and exciting, and you start to enjoy the rollercoaster.
Elephants Only F*ck Elephants
After 3.5 years, we’ve reached the position we aimed for at the start. Big companies love startups for their pitches and innovation workshops, but rarely choose to work with them. The larger the company, the more important reliability and compliance become. We wasted time trying to get large companies to work with us. Instead, we built our reputation, proof, and traction in the world of Gourmet. It’s the bedrock of who we are and what we stand for. Now, the doors to larger companies are opening. We have the capacity, structure, and portfolio to offer reliability and compliance. The lesson learned: you need a certain size to get noticed by big companies. Elephants only f*ck elephants.
