Dromara artisans mark decade of success crafting traditional butter

Dairy innovators Will and Allison Abernethy are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their small artisan food business, Abernethy Butter, which is now a market leader in the UK and Ireland in handmade and hand rolled butter.

Based on a small farm in the rolling Dromara hills of Co Down, Abernethy Butter now counts the iconic London grocer Fortnum and Mason (F&M), The Ritz Hotel, also in London, celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal and renowned food stylist Nigella Lawson among its high profile UK customers.

Other celebrity chefs in Britain such as James Martin and Marcus Wareing use the creamy butter. A host of major awards have also acclaimed the rich flavours of the company’s butters, all hand crafted by Will, originally a farmer, from fresh milk from grass-fed dairy cows.

The Abernethys, widely respected entrepreneurs, are understandably proud of all that has been achieved in the UK and on the island of Ireland over the period.

“The years have flown by so quickly,” Allison reflects. “I guess this is because we’ve enjoyed every minute building the business and developing such prestigious customers for our range of handcrafted butters…and we still get a real buzz from this. It’s taken great dedication and enterprise over the years. There’s really no

magic bullet for success in artisan food production and, as every small food producer knows, there’s no alternative to hard work.”

While the business is celebrating quietly its 10th anniversary, the modest and talented couple had been developing and shaping the idea for a number of years in showcasing traditional butter churning at markets and other events here.

The innovation on which the business was founded continues to underpin its approach. The original butter has been joined by other varieties such as smoked, seaweed and sea salt, and black garlic flavours. The business, in addition, makes an award winning butter fudge.

Great Britain, Allison continues, accounted for around 60 percent of sales before the virus outbreak and subsequent lockdown.

“The challenge facing us now is on recovering and then growing business there, in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland. Our sales to high-end restaurants and upmarket hotels were halted by the lockdown in hospitality and many of the delis we also supplied were only open for limited periods,” Allison says. “We appreciate greatly the tremendous support from delis here and further afield over the past decade and especially during the lockdown.”

Allison, a former district nurse, describes the orders from Heston Blumenthal, chef/owner of the acclaimed Fat Duck restaurant in Maidenhead, Berkshire, and from famed F&M food hall in London’s Piccadilly as “game changers” in the early stages of the company, a Food NI member, “These orders really put our artisan butter on the map and raised our profile significantly in Britain,” she explains.

The butters have become such a success that F&M now includes them in its globally renowned hampers and commissioned the Northern Ireland company to develop own label products for the store.

“We were approached by the F&M product development team to use our expertise and skills in creating three unique butter flavours for the store,” Allison continues. “We were thrilled to be invited to produce these as well as salted and non-salted butters for such a respected and successful global brand. We’ve been doing business with F&M for many years now and have developed a tremendously important business relationship. As a result, F&M has become an immensely valued customer and is a great company with which to do business.”

The contract with Heston Blumenthal was the outcome of an imaginative social media drive run by Allison. The targeted campaign subsequently led to Blumenthal visiting the company in Dromara.

The company was an early adopter of social media marketing techniques in Northern Ireland and the business has succeeded largely through the endeavours and enterprise of its founders. Abernethy Butter has experienced the same difficulties during the lockdown as others throughout the UK and Ireland.

“It was a very difficult and depressing time,”

Allison continues. “We had, of course, to cut back on all costs to ensure we are in a position to hit the ground running when business resumes. We are currently

renewing contacts with all our customers and exploring new opportunities.”

Three workers employed by the business were furloughed, Allison says.

Among the impressive catalogue of achievements over the decade was the choice of couple’s own dulse butter by Michelin star chef Clare Smyth, originally from Bushmills in Co Antrim, for a sauce served in one of the dishes at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The handmade butter, in fact, was the only local food to feature on the menu at the lavish wedding.

What of the next 10 years for Abernethy Butter?

“We will continue to build the business and its reputation as an innovator and producer of premium butters. It’s onwards and upwards,” Allison says. “There are plenty of opportunities in hospitality and specialist retailing for us to follow up.”

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