Not long ago, I sat down with a large baker. I asked him a simple question: “Why do you use butter?” He looked at me like I’d asked why he breathes. “Because… it’s butter,” he said.
That’s where most disruption starts. Not with opposition, but with that quiet pause behind the obvious. A hesitation in the answer. A window. We’re not talking about food here. We’re talking about default thinking. About industries running on assumptions so old, no one remembers who made them.
Butter in pastry is one of those assumptions. It’s romantic. Familiar. It carries cultural weight, a nostalgic scent, and a golden sheen. But under all that shine, the logic starts to break. It’s expensive. It’s volatile. It excludes people. And in 2025, it’s hardly the most efficient tool for the job.
Yet the system sticks to it.
That’s not just food. That’s how almost every industry operates. We use what we know, not because it works best, but because it works enough. Until someone quietly shows us something better.
That’s what happened with Be Better My Friend. We didn’t set out to create a movement. We set out to make pastry easier, inclusive, more future-proof. The product was plant-based butter, sure. But the idea was something else entirely: what if chefs didn’t have to choose between performance and principles?
We weren’t trying to be radical. We were trying to be useful.
The early days were full of skepticism. “Pastry without butter? Forget it.” But instead of arguing, we demonstrated. Let the croissant do the talking. One bakery in Paris, another in London. Then came Amsterdam, Barcelona, Sydney, Tokyo. Suddenly, chefs weren’t just open—they were calling us.
And that’s how transformation works. Not with big campaigns or philosophical pitches. But with tiny wins that stack up. A better fold. A cleaner label. A chef who tries it, then tells a friend. A distributor who gets curious. Before long, a whole network is nudging the market forward.
You see the same pattern in other industries. Calendly didn’t disrupt scheduling with features. It just made people’s lives easier. Or look at Oatly. They didn’t lead with “we’re plant-based.” They led with, “look at this foam.” Baristas switched. Customers followed. Market shifted. Great products don’t shout. They solve. And when they do, the market starts selling them for you.
Still, the real challenge in any transformation isn’t the product. It’s the psychology.
We’re not wired for change. We’re wired for safety. We stick to what we know because switching carries risk. What if it fails? What if it costs me my reputation? What if my team doesn’t buy in? That’s why the work of disruption isn’t just about building something better. It’s about making the better thing feel safe. Familiar. Easy to try. Low risk. High return. That’s anthropology. That’s branding. That’s behavior design.
And it’s where most startups get stuck. They focus on what their product is instead of what it changes. They pitch logic when they should be designing belief.
Back to butter. The truth is, it still works. But now, there’s a smarter option. It performs just as well, costs less long-term, and opens pastry up to consumers who were shut out before. No dairy. No compromise. No cows required.
And once you see that, you can’t unsee it.
That’s the moment when the old default loses its grip. When the thing that used to feel safe starts to feel… outdated.
And if butter can be replaced, anything can.
So here’s the real question:
What’s the butter in your business?
What’s the thing you keep using not because it’s right—but because no one’s questioned it yet?
Because someone will.
And if it’s not you, it’ll be the next startup with nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Know someone stuck in old defaults? Share this with them. Or drop me a line—curious what it made you think.
BETTER BRAND 
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