Violife Enters the Vegan Butter Market With New Vioblock

Vegan favorite Violife just debuted its first vegan butter, providing plant-based consumers in the United Kingdom with another plant-based butter option. Vioblock will become available at Asda stores in the UK this week, marketed as a butter substitute fortified with several key nutrients.

Violife’s butter alternative will be enriched with vitamins B1, B2, B6, and B12, using a mixture of coconut oil, sunflower oil, and rapeseed oil to create a buttery, spreadable texture. Vioblock replicates the same physical appearance of butter with the ability to melt, spread, and bake, but more importantly Violife claims to have successfully developed vegan butter with the familiar and cherished flavor.

“Launching our first butter alternative Vioblock is a milestone moment for Violife as we look to expand our product offering further within the dairy alternatives category,” UK Marketing Manager for Violife Bianca Harris said. “Always 100-percent vegan, Vioblock stays true to the core values of Violife, in that they are suitable for everyone to enjoy regardless of their dietary requirements and perform just as you would expect.”

The vegan company’s product selection predominantly includes plant-based cheeses, meaning the introduction of Vioblock is a shift to expand the brand’s range. Founded in the 1990s, the Greece-based company set out determined to provide plant-based cheese to the world. Since then, the company’s products have become available in more than 50 countries worldwide. The plant-based cheese company’s products became widely available in the United States in 2018 when Whole Foods Market began distributing the product across its stores.

Violife’s vegan cheese line offers dairy-free cheese in several varieties including cheese blocks, slices, wedges, and spread. The cheese styles also come in several flavors from cheddar and mozzarella to feta and provolone. Within the US, the company offers cream cheeses, cheddar slices and blocks, feta blocks, and parmesan wedges. Now, the company is experimenting with other forms of dairy alternatives, broadening the brand’s holdings in the vegan markets.

“With dairy alternatives out-growing the dairy sector by almost three to one, yet representing only five percent of the total dairy sector, there is sizable headroom for growth of the dairy alternatives sector and expansion for Violife beyond the dairy alternative to cheese category,” Harris said. “Whether flexitarian, vegan, or vegetarian, we look forward to introducing supporters of the brand to an expanded product range in the future.”

Harris believes that the company’s new vegan butter presents the brand with new opportunities for its future. The company released another product outside of the vegan cheese sectors last year with its vegan chocolate spread named Cocospread. The chocolate spread consists of coconut oil, cocoa powder, dried banana powder, and coconut oil enhanced by other flavorings to create its sweet, chocolatey flavor. The company initially released the product in the UK, but since then it has reached American retailers.

The vegan butter market is rapidly expanding since Unilever released its “It’s Vegan” I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter in 2017. Other companies have spent the last decade developing vegan butter for plant-based consumers including Califia Farms, Milkamaia, Flora, Miyoko’s Creamery, Earth Balance, and Melt Organic. With Violife’s previous patterns, it’s possible US markets will see another vegan market hit the market with the introduction of the company’s Vioblock.