What is your product? What is its innovative concept?

Potibon is the first naturally fat-free alternative to butter and margarine, made from 80% French vegetables.

The concept is to offer a healthy, vegetable-based alternative that can replace fats both on toast and in recipes, so you can enjoy eating without feeling guilty while taking care of our planet.

It's 90% lower in calories than butter, Nutriscore A, rich in fibre and environmentally friendly.
Make delicious spreads and recipes that are both healthy and delicious.
Suitable for all diets: vegan, vegetarian, cholesterol-sensitive, lactose-intolerant and anyone concerned about their diet.
Vegetables for healthy pleasure!

Before the competition, did you think it would have been possible to launch it?

Before the competition, I really wanted to go into entrepreneurship after my engineering studies. I really liked the concept and it met a real consumer need. However, the feedback I received on the product during the competition acted as a trigger for me to launch the start-up with this concept, even though the road to setting up a company took several years.

What is the difference between the product you entered the competition with and the product sold today on the market?

Many things have changed since the competition. First of all, the name Butternot has become Potibon to make it easier to understand for the target audience and to reflect the company's values, particularly the made in France. The product itself has also changed a great deal, with extensive R&D and reformulation work to meet distributors' expectations and make it ready for industrial production. The concept remains broadly unchanged, but the product has evolved.

Can you tell us your values and missions?

The company's missions are first of all to make the love of good food healthy and guilt-free. For example with Potibon, you can eat a chocolate muffin without feeling guilty thanks to the 24% reduction in calories and the improvement of the Nutri-Score. Our challenge is to combine taste pleasure and health. And all this in an eco-responsible way, that is to say, respecting the planet and reducing our impact on the environment. Things are designed to be as responsible and natural as possible.

The company seeks to promote the short circuit and Made In France. These are strong values ​​that we defend every day and of which we are proud.

What about the challenges you encountered during the development of your brand?

Obviously, there have been many challenges and there are still many to come.

There have been challenges with the product, which have led to changes in the product, in particular to improve shelf life and the perception of the product.

Setting up the production side is also a real challenge.

Getting people to understand the product concept and finding the right target and brand image.

The future challenges are the start of commercialisation, with all that this entails: getting people to buy the product and, above all, to buy it again, making the brand known and growing with future developments. But it's all these challenges that make the adventure worthwhile.

Funding: how did you get started?

For the time being, the business has got off the ground thanks in particular to financial support for entrepreneurship, such as regional subsidies, but also bank loans, competition winnings and my personal savings.

About figures: what's your company size / Number of distributors / In which countries are you established?

For the moment, it's very recent. The company has only just been set up. Commercialisation is due to start next autumn, with a regional focus initially in eastern France.

What happened with your Ecotrophelia team: are you still together or just some of you or did you recruit other people with skills that you didn’t have in your original team?

We had a great time at the Ecotrophelia competition with our team and teachers.

Now I'm continuing the adventure on my own, with plans to expand the team in the future.

Do you wish to internationalize your product?

Maybe one day, yes, but not right away.

I know that there is great potential for European countries, especially border countries. However, I prefer to do things well and develop the brand in France before thinking bigger.

What is your opinion about food innovation today and tomorrow ?

For me, food innovation must respond to a real need and not be done just to innovate. This must make sense with new consumer expectations. It is important that eco-responsibility is taken into account in the innovations of today and tomorrow. The environment should not be an option in innovation. I think we must put innovation at the service of the future, rethink our consumption patterns to limit our environmental impact and be able to feed all humans. It is also important not to lose the notion of pleasure in innovation.

What has Ecotrophelia brought you?

Ecotrophelia, especially the French competition, enabled us to consolidate the concept and gather feedback from experts in the food industry. It was a very rewarding human experience, both during the competition itself and during the development phase.

A message for future candidates?

Have fun ! It's an incredible and unique experience and you will come out of it grown :)