Tirlán’s Truly Grass Fed butter has expanded its availability in premium US retailer Whole Foods.

The product, which had previously been on shelves in 45 Whole Foods' stores, will now be shipped to more than 350 locations across the US.

The product, which directly competes with Ornua’s Kerrygold butter, retails at $5.79 for an 8 oz pack in Whole Foods. The Kerrygold 8 oz pack is cheaper at $5.49.

ADVERTISEMENT

When the Irish Farmers Journal checked pricing on the Whole Foods' website, there were also offers available on the 16 oz pack of Kerrygold.

If these are taken into account, the Tirlán Truly Grass Fed salted butter is 10% more expensive per ounce than Kerrygold.

Expansion

In a post on LinkedIn celebrating the expansion at Whole Foods, Tirlán said it was “thrilled to make our delicious, grass-fed Irish butter available to even more families”, adding that it would have “in-store activations coming soon to drive even more customer discovery”.

A spokesperson for Tirlán confirmed the increase in the retail foodprint at Whole Foods and noted that product pricing was a matter for the retailer.

The deal with Whole Foods is a further move into the US butter market by the Kilkenny-based co-op, which recently agreed to supply grass-fed butter for Costco’s Kirkland private label.

The Kirkland grass-fed butter sells at a significant discount to Kerrygold butter, and, according to Whole Foods' prices, an even larger discount to Tirlán own premium brand.

A spokesperson for Ornua said: “As we have stated before, competition is a feature of every successful market. Not only is Kerrygold Ireland’s national butter brand, it is the number one grass-fed butter brand in the world today, thanks to decades of farmer investment in its growth.

“We are fully focused on growing Kerrygold further, protecting the investments farmers have made over 65 years to build it and, critically, safeguarding the shared value Kerrygold creates, which significantly contributes to the profitability of Ornua’s members co-operatives and adds a premium to the milk price paid to 14,000 family dairy farms across the country.”