After months of anticipation, Butter Bar is finally getting ready to open its doors. The new shop dedicated to flavoured, small-batch butter is now expected to open in the next few weeks in Port Credit at 1006 Lagoon Street.
Founded by Toronto entrepreneur Kate Engineer, Butter Bar makes its butter in Ontario using locally sourced cream, with seasonal flavours designed to work as both a cooking ingredient and a spread.
The idea started years ago when Engineer was working on a restaurant concept and pitched a “butter flight” to pair with lobster. The restaurant passed, but she held onto the idea — literally. She bought the domain, registered the business and then did nothing with it for six years.
“I just sat on it,” she says. “Until a friend finally told me, ‘either stop talking about it or actually f*cking do something.’”
So she did.
Engineer started teaching herself how to churn butter at home, experimenting with flavours, proportions and textures. By the holiday season, she had a small website, four flavours and a launch for friends and family.
“I had no idea what I was doing,” she says. “But people were going crazy for it.”
She later spent a summer selling at the Port Credit Farmers’ Market, where she regularly sold out despite being one of the market’s more expensive butter vendors.
“That’s when I knew, people were willing to pay for it.”
Butter Bar’s flavours are designed to take some of the work out of cooking, with seasonings built directly into the butter.
“You don’t have to think about adding five different ingredients,” she explains. “It’s already built into the butter.”
The new storefront, designed by longtime friend Aeon Design, will have a Parisian café-inspired feel with an urban edge, along with a sampling station where customers can try the flavours before buying. Beyond the butter, the shop will carry accessories including butter bells, charcuterie essentials, local jams and popcorn kernels chosen to pair with melted butter flavours.
And Engineer already has plans for Butter Bar beyond the storefront, including pop-ups, collaborations and a hospitality component.
“The name Butter Bar was always meant to be more than just retail,” she says. “There’s a hospitality element coming.”
For now, the focus is on getting the doors open. After the long wait, Butter Bar is finally just a few weeks away from serving up its first flavoured pats in Port Credit.