The Equity Studio Invests in ALL THINGS, the Brand Leading Dairy’s Cultural Reinvention

The Equity Studio has led a multi-million-pound investment into ALL THINGS, the UK’s fastest growing dairy brand, founded by chef Thomas Straker and entrepreneur Toby Hopkinson, alongside Access Industries.

What began as viral butter has rapidly evolved into a brand platform redefining one of the most commoditised aisles in the supermarket. The investment comes at a pivotal moment for the business, with national retail expansion underway and an upcoming US launch.

WHEN CULTURE SHAPES THE GROCERY BASKET

For decades, dairy has been one of the most functionally driven categories in retail, defined by price and minimal innovation. But consumer behaviour is shifting.

A new generation of brands is transforming everyday groceries into objects of taste, identity and cultural expression – a phenomenon increasingly described as the rise of the ‘status economy’ in food.

A recent Highsnobiety report highlights that more than 70% of consumers now treat groceries as a form of lifestyle expression, signalling a profound shift in how everyday products are discovered, discussed and consumed.

At the centre of this shift is ALL THINGS. In just two years, the company has moved from insurgent challenger to category outlier, redefining how consumers discover, cook with and buy staples.

FROM VIRAL CHEF TO CATEGORY CATALYST

Thomas Straker is not a traditional food founder. A chef whose viral cooking videos and ‘All Things Butter’ series have surpassed a billion views on TikTok and Instagram, he has built one of the most influential food audiences globally by making simple ingredients – butter, bread, cottage cheese – culturally magnetic.

“We created ALL THINGS to inspire people to elevate their everyday cooking with the highest quality British ingredients. These are the products we use in our own restaurant kitchens every day, so it is incredibly exciting to bring that same quality to supermarket shelves” said Thomas Straker, Co-Founder of ALL THINGS.

That cultural authority has translated directly into retail performance, with ALL THINGS delivering category-leading velocity across major UK grocers, in segments that have seen little meaningful innovation for decades.

“Food used to be about convenience and price,” said Toby Hopkinson, Co-Founder of ALL THINGS. “But people want more from what they cook with every day. They want flavour, provenance and inspiration. Our job is simple – take ingredients people already love and make them exciting again”

THE COTTAGE CHEESE INFLECTION

Few foods better illustrate the cultural shift underway than cottage cheese. Once seen as dated and functional, it has become one of the fastest-growing food categories globally, fuelled by social media discovery, high-protein diets and recipe experimentation.

The UK category is growing over 50% year-on-year, with viral cottage cheese recipes generating billions of views online.

More broadly, consumers are returning to dairy, drawn by its natural nutrition and versatility. This resurgence is being driven by wider wellness trends, the rise of GLP-1s, the protein boom, and a renewed focus on real, whole foods – accelerating demand for clean-label, minimally processed products.

ALL THINGS entered the cottage cheese category at the beginning of this year and immediately delivered rate-of-sale materially ahead of retailer’s expectations. More than 50% of the brand’s cottage cheese customers are under 45 – a demographic historically disengaged from the category – signalling this is not incremental share shift, but a demographic replatforming.

WHERE CULTURE MEETS CATEGORY 

For The Equity Studio, the investment reflects a broader structural shift. Anna Sweeting, Founder of The Equity Studio, commented: “Food is entering the same cultural phase beauty and fashion went through a decade ago. Consumers are no longer choosing products purely on price or function – they’re choosing brands that signal taste, identity and quality. Thomas and Toby have built a platform perfectly positioned at that intersection of culture and category.”

The Equity Studio was founded on a simple belief: capital must understand culture. From TRIP to Gisou, from Axel Arigato to 111Skin, the firm has built a track record backing brands at moments where shifts in consumer behaviour create category-defining opportunities. ALL THINGS represents that moment in food.

Sweeting added “This is what happens when cultural authority meets operational excellence. Dairy is a structurally large category that hasn’t evolved with the consumer. Thomas, Toby and the team aren’t creating a niche brand -they’re redefining everyday behaviour, turning daily essentials into cultural signals, built through social, community and lifestyle from day one. That’s when real enterprise value is built.”

BUILDING THE MODERN DAIRY PLATFORM 

By combining chef credibility, creator distribution and disciplined retail execution ALL THINGS is becoming the brand of choice with younger, health-conscious consumer. Having already established a scaled UK retail presence, ALL THINGS will launch in the US this autumn. In parallel, Thomas Straker prepares to open Straker’s New York, extending the brand’s cultural and culinary influence internationally.

At the same time, the company is expanding beyond butter and cottage cheese with a strong NPD pipeline in adjacent segments. The company is building more than SKUs – it is building a modern dairy platform with this fresh investment supporting national distribution expansion, operational scaling and international growth. As part of this, ALL THINGS will begin investing directly into its supply chain and farm partners, marking the first step in its vertical integration strategy.

If the past decade saw insurgent brands reshape snacks and beauty, the next may belong to everyday food – with dairy emerging as the next frontier.