Meet the Makers: Ampersand Dairy

At DukesHill, we believe the finest food often begins with the simplest ingredients, made exceptionally well. Ampersand Dairy is a perfect example. Founded by chef Grant Harrington in 2014, Ampersand set out with one clear ambition: to raise the bar for butter.

Inspired by Grant’s experience of tasting and serving exceptional butter while working in one of the world’s highest-rated restaurants in Scandinavia, Ampersand spent a year developing and refining its cultured butter before bringing it to market. Today, its richly flavoured butter is enjoyed by home cooks and some of the country’s most celebrated chefs, including restaurants collectively holding more than 80 Michelin stars.

We caught up with the team at Ampersand Dairy to discover the story behind the brand, what makes its cultured butter so distinctive, and why great flavour will always come first.

What does a typical day look like for your team?

We’re a small team, so everyone is close to the product. A typical day might involve churning, kneading, salting, taste tests, packing, checking cream, getting orders ready for chefs and retailers, and making sure everything leaves at the highest standard.

What values are most important to your business?

Taste comes first. Our internal rule is simple: we don’t make anything unless we genuinely believe it beats the competition on flavour.

Integral to taste we have very strong sourcing values; we only work with farms and farmers who prioritise animal welfare and sustainability. We would rather make fewer products exceptionally well than chase lots of new ideas that dilute what we do. We care about making premium dairy properly.

What are you most proud of since starting Ampersand?

We’re proud that something as simple as butter has been taken seriously by so many brilliant chefs, retailers and people at home. Seeing Ampersand used in kitchens across the UK, including restaurants collectively holding more than 80 Michelin stars, has been a real milestone.

But we’re equally proud that we’ve stayed focused. We started with the ambition to raise the bar for butter, and that is still what drives the business.

What makes your cultured butter stand out from others?

The flavour. Our salted cultured butter is fuller, richer and more deeply buttery because we uniquely culture the cream before churning. That gives the butter more depth and complexity than any other butter.

We then barrel churn it and finish it by kneading in salt for balance, so the final butter has richness, acidity, creaminess and seasoning working together.

Can you share a little about the ingredients or process behind your butter?

We start with cream and culture it with a lactic culture for 48 hours. It is then barrel churned and finished with salt to get that extra balance.

Do you have any perfect pairing suggestions for your butter?

The simplest pairing is still one of the best: good bread, fresh pasta or even a baked potato, where the butter can be the main event.

We’d also suggest using it generously with ham, for the ultimate ham sandwich.

What are your customers’ favourite products, and why do you think they love them?

Our flagship is the 200g salted cultured butter wheel, packed in its carton. It is the product that best expresses what Ampersand is about: simple, generous, deeply flavoured butter.

Chefs also love the kitchen formats because they get the same flavour in practical formats for service and cooking. Our buttermilk has a loyal following too, especially among bakers and cooks who love how much flavour it can bring.

How do you develop new ideas or products?

We start with taste and use. It needs to be genuinely delicious, useful to cooks, and make sense alongside what Ampersand already does.

Our approach focuses on fewer products, done exceptionally well, with room to expand into other premium dairy products without compromising on flavour.

What keeps you motivated day to day?

The product keeps us motivated. Butter is simple, but it has an amazing ability to transform food and create pleasure. There’s something very satisfying about making an everyday ingredient exceptional.

We’re also motivated by the people who use it: chefs, retailers, home cooks and customers who care about flavour. Every time someone tells us Ampersand has changed how they think about butter, it reminds us why we started.

From carefully sourcing its cream to culturing it for 48 hours, barrel churning and finishing with just the right amount of salt, Ampersand’s approach proves that even the simplest ingredients can become something extraordinary when flavour and quality are never compromised.

That philosophy makes Ampersand a natural fit for DukesHill. Whether melted through fresh pasta, generously spread over warm bread or paired with our traditionally cured ham for the ultimate ham sandwich, this is butter designed to be tasted rather than simply used.

Sometimes, the simplest pleasures really are the best.