If you’re a person who spoons peanut butter into your mouth straight from the jar, Udderly Nuts might be your new go-to. The Butler-based company makes gourmet peanut butter and adds in candies, cookies, chocolates, and other goodies.
Becoming a family affair
Stephen Miller, who owns the Udderly Nuts business with his wife, Talia, says, “We do everything start to finish except grow the peanuts. We grind the peanuts into our peanut butter paste, and the add-ins are all done by hand at our production space on the square in Butler. The mix-ins are stirred by hand, and the jars are filled by hand as well.” Talia handles the shipping as fulfillment manager, and when customers order from their website or via TikTok, they can request the Miller’s oldest son, Macklin, age eight, to pick and pack their order. Youngest son Griffyn, age three, serves as chief taste tester.
“It’s truly a family business,” Stephen says. Udderly Nuts regularly carries 16 flavors. Every Wednesday, four more flavors become available. “One of them is usually new, and the other three are old favorites that we’re putting back into rotation,” Stephen says.
A spoonful of nutty flavors
Some of the original flavors remain the most popular of the 16 signature offerings. These include Cookies and Cream, Super Cookie, and Peanut Butter Blitz, which features coated candies and chocolate chips. A newer flavor, Raspberry Cheesecake, featuring raspberry sauce and white chocolate chips, has already become their all-time bestseller.
Happy Camper is a fan favorite with its milk chocolate peanut butter, marshmallow fluff, chocolate chips, and Golden Grahams cereal, reminds you of eating s’mores, Stephen says. “I made a really terrible, silly video on TikTok in August 2023, and it somehow rose to 1.5 million views, which just baffles me,” Stephen says, laughing. “We sold over 6,000 jars of Happy Camper peanut butter because of that video, but we don’t keep it in our rotation every week because it’s very labor intensive.”
‘The entrepreneurial bug’
Stephen draws the art for the jars’ whimsical labels that feature farm animals. Talia, who devised the Udderly Nuts name, suggested using their former farm animals as inspiration. The Millers previously operated Autumn Acres Family Farm, which was a seasonal pumpkin patch with much-loved pigs, goats, chickens, and three Highland cows.
“We really enjoyed doing that, but we realized pretty quickly we needed to do something that would extend beyond six weeks out of the year,” Stephen says. “But the entrepreneurial bug had bitten me. I spent 13 years in public education as a fourth-grade teacher and elementary principal, and as much fun as that was, I really liked the idea of owning my own business.”
An acquaintance of the Millers suggested they make gourmet peanut butter, so they bought a peanut grinder and started experimenting with different tastes and textures. “When we started making our own, it blew my mind how different peanut butter could taste from the pantry-staple brands,” says Stephen. Stephen says their biggest challenge is trying to get exposure for the business. “You start out having a display at festivals and nobody knows who you are,” says Stephen. “Three years in, we’ve grown a following. But the biggest challenge for us is making sure we are constantly in front of new eyes while still making a great product for everyone who’s supported us.”
All photos by Udderly Nuts.
Although they are moving to another location, Udderly Nuts storefront will still be on the square at Butler. Visit Udderlynuts.com or find them on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.
This article ran in Missouri Life’s September 2024 issue.
