What Butter& does

Butter& is a privately held designer cake shop founded in 2017 by Amanda Nguyen in San Francisco. The company produces custom and semi-custom celebration cakes across nine product collections (Signature, Exposé, Wedding, Birthday, Children's Birthday, Baby Shower, Floral, Textural, Playful, Corporate Gifting), differentiated by a proprietary Greek yogurt buttercream that yields a less-sweet, flavor-forward profile relative to typical American buttercream. The catalog includes 38+ signature designs, with five signature flavors (e.g., Lychee + Raspberry, Brown Butter + Meyer Lemon, Hazelnut + Chocolate, Double Chocolate, Cookies + Cream), tiered serving sizes from 4-6 to 90-100+ servings, and add-on modules including script personalization, gender reveal, and edible image options.

The company's technology stack is intentionally lean: a Shopify-hosted e-commerce site (butterand.com) handles ordering, customization, checkout, and gift card fulfillment, while fulfillment is anchored by a single physical retail storefront at 690 Indiana Street in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood and a local courier delivery network covering the broader Bay Area. There is no national shipping capability and no third-party marketplace presence. Order lead times are structurally differentiated — 2+ days for the Exposé line (which supports same-day/next-day walk-in retail), 4+ days for fully decorated signature cakes, and 2 months for custom commissions.

Butter& operates a pure direct-to-consumer model with unit-pricing across all SKUs. Cake prices range from $55-$70 (Exposé) to $155-$280+ (signature single-tier), with two- and three-tier designs priced per tier; corporate gifting requires a $2,000 / 100-serving minimum and 7-day notice. Ancillary revenue streams — gift cards ($50-$1,000, no expiry), partyware (candles, servers, cake stands), and branded merchandise (beanies, socks) — extend average order value. Demand generation relies on Instagram (@butter_and), an email newsletter, and earned media (Kelly Clarkson Show, USA Today, Martha Stewart, People.com), with no paid acquisition or wholesale channel disclosed. The company is incorporated as Butter& Ventures, Inc. in California and is known for an ethical employment model that includes employee equity, above-market wages, and healthcare.

Name

Butter&

Legal name

Butter& Ventures, Inc.

Website

https://butterand.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Butter& is a privately held designer cake shop in San Francisco that sells custom and semi-custom celebration cakes through a Shopify e-commerce site and one Dogpatch retail storefront, serving Bay Area consumers, weddings, and corporate clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Custom Bakery / Designer Cakes

NAICS

Retail Bakeries (311811), Baked Goods Retailers (445291)

SIC

Bakery Products (2050)

akta.pro primary industry

Cake Shops & Custom Celebration Cakes (THAFAFAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Patisseries & Dessert Boutiques (CRAHAGAB), Dessert & Bakery Catering (Cakes, Pastries, Candy) (HSACAGAI), Dessert Cafes (Coffee + Desserts) (THAFADAH)

Keywords

• Custom celebration cakes
• Designer wedding cakes
• Specialty bakery
• Birthday cake shop
• Corporate gifting

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Custom Wedding Cakes: Fully decorated custom cakes with multi-tier options ranging from $155 to $280+, customized by size, flavor, color, metal accents, flower type, and script personalization.
2. Exposé Cakes: A collection of simpler, elegantly designed cakes available with shorter lead times (2+ days) for smaller, more casual celebrations, priced at $55-$70.
3. Corporate Gifting: Group gifting services for corporate clients including multi-address local delivery, company logo customization, and gluten-free options, requiring 7 days' notice with a minimum of 100 servings or $2000.
4. Partyware and Merchandise: Accessories including gold candles, stainless steel pastry servers, maple cake stands, branded beanies, and branded socks sold alongside cakes.
5. Digital Gift Cards: Electronic gift cards in denominations from $50 to $1,000 that never expire, sold via the website and emailed to purchaser or recipient.
6. Wedding Tasting Box: A $45 tasting box featuring 5 flavors that serves 2 people, allowing couples to sample the full flavor menu before committing to a wedding cake order.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Butter& designs, produces, and sells custom celebration cakes including single-tier, multi-tier, wedding, birthday, baby shower, and sheet cakes made with a signature Greek yogurt buttercream frosting. Offerings are sold direct-to-consumer through a Shopify e-commerce site and one physical retail storefront in San Francisco, supplemented by local courier delivery in the Bay Area. Accessories (partyware) and branded merchandise are sold alongside the cakes.

Product overview

Butter& is a designer cake shop offering custom-designed celebration cakes with a modern, minimalist aesthetic. The core product is their signature cake collection featuring customizable single-tier, two-tier, and three-tier designs in various sizes (4-6 servings up to 120 servings). Key cake lines include: Signature Cakes (full customization), Exposé Cakes (2-day lead time, simpler designs), Wedding Cakes (with tasting boxes), Birthday Cakes, Children's Birthday Cakes, and Baby Shower Cakes. Add-on services include Script personalization, Gender Reveal, and Edible Image options. The company also sells Partyware accessories (candles, pastry servers, cake stands) and merchandise (beanies, socks). Custom design commissions are accepted with 2-month notice and $2000+ minimum. All cakes feature Greek yogurt buttercream frosting with 5 signature flavors including Lychee + Raspberry (most popular), Brown Butter + Meyer Lemon, Hazelnut + Chocolate, Double Chocolate, and Cookies + Cream. Design medium is exclusively buttercream.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Signature Cakes

Quantifiable outcome

• Minimum 4 days' notice for fully decorated custom cakes; 2 days for Exposé collection; same-day/next-day available at storefront

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• ShopifycoreTechnology or IntegrationShopify powers Butter&'s e-commerce platform, enabling the online storefront, product catalog, checkout, and order management. Shopify processes payments and provides the infrastructure for the digital shopping experience. Butter& is explicitly identified as being 'powered by Shopify' throughout the website.
• Hedge (Local Coffee Roaster)minorOthersHedge is a local San Francisco coffee roaster whose coffee is served at Butter&'s retail storefront. Customers can enjoy a coffee from Hedge on the sunny patio while eating cake. Coffee is sold at the physical shop alongside cakes.
• American HeirloomminorOthersAmerican Heirloom is a Brooklyn-based maker of FSC certified hardwood cake stands. Butter& recommends their stands on the website and resells the Maple Cake Stand ($95) made by American Heirloom, sourced directly from their collection.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Tartine Bakery: San Francisco-based artisan bakery (chefs Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt) known for breads and viennoiserie. Comparable as a SF-headquartered design-forward bakery serving the same Bay Area market as Butter&.

Direct peers

• Carlo's Bakery: Celebrity custom cake shop (from Cake Boss) operating DTC, retail, and shipping. Comparable in custom-cake, multi-tier, and gifting offerings, with strong media-driven brand awareness similar to Butter&'s national press footprint.
• Milk Bar: NYC-founded designer cake and baked-goods brand (Christina Tosi) selling signature layer cakes, cookies, and branded merchandise DTC and through retail locations. Directly comparable to Butter& in that both operate a designer-cake, millennial-premium DTC + retail model with menu-driven signature SKUs and a focus on flavor novelty.
• Baked by Melissa: DTC mini-cupcake and bite-sized dessert brand with Manhattan retail and nationwide shipping. Directly comparable as a design-led, gift-friendly bakery operating DTC-first with adjacent merchandise.
• SusieCakes: Multi-location celebration cake and dessert chain focused on weddings, birthdays, and corporate gifting with transparent online pricing. Directly comparable as a scaled designer-cake chain with overlapping use cases (weddings, birthdays, corporate gifting) and similar DTC ordering flow.
• Magnolia Bakery: Iconic NYC bakery famous for cupcakes and banana pudding, now multi-city with DTC shipping. Directly comparable in DTC + retail cake and dessert model with a gift-able, branded product line.
• Sprinkles: Pioneering cupcake and cake brand with retail storefronts and DTC nationwide shipping. Comparable as a premium-positioned, media-friendly bakery with adjacent SKUs (cakes, cupcake ATMs, gifting).
• Lady M: Premium cake boutique known for signature mille-crêpes and celebration cakes, operating DTC and physical stores. Comparable as a premium-positioned designer cake brand with national footprint and signature-flavor-driven menu.
• Sweet Laurel: LA-based designer cake shop offering modern, minimalist custom cakes for weddings, birthdays, and corporate clients with online ordering and curated menus. Most directly comparable brand aesthetic and segment focus to Butter& — same modern, less-sweet, design-led positioning.

Broad incumbents

• Nothing Bundt Cakes: Largest U.S. specialty cake franchisor with hundreds of locations, focused on celebration bundt cakes and gifting. Comparable as a broader incumbent in the celebration cake category offering overlapping occasion-based SKUs (birthdays, weddings, corporate gifting) at national scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/butter_and
• Facebookfacebook.com/butterand
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/butterand

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Butter&