Back in 1970 Joni Mitchell famously sang, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone?” In that record Mitchell was bemoaning the loss of a lover to a big yellow taxi. This week in Texas, however, some folks may be singing the tune because of a big yellow stick of butter.

Vital Farms, an Austin-based dairy company, announced on Aug. 6 via Instagram and not the album Ladies of the Canyon that it was discontinuing both its salted and unsalted butter products, effective the end of 2026.

“This was a tough decision but one that will allow us to focus on where we can make the biggest impact for people, animals, and the planet through food,” read Vital Farms’ statement.

That’s another way of saying “we’re going to focus on eggs.” Vital Farms had been planning to “wind down the butter business,” first announcing the move in its first-quarter financial results report, which was publicly released May 7. Then, the company said growing economic issues and challenges with its international supply chain led to the decision.

“Exiting butter will allow us to focus on our core egg categories, where we have the greatest competitive advantages and see the strongest path to long-term value creation at this time,” Vital Farms Executive Chairperson, President and CEO Russell Diez-Canseco said in the report. In the Q1 report, Vital Farms noted a 15.4 percent increase in net revenue from the same time in 2025.

The last quarter wasn’t so hot for Vital Farms, which reported on Aug. 6 a 10.1 percent net revenue decrease. Diez-Canseco said that while “these results are not what we aspire to deliver,” it was confident in its recovery plan, which includes narrowing price gaps in its egg business amid an oversupply industry-wide that dropped prices.

In other words, butter was proving too unwieldy in a turbulent economic world. And since Vital Farms is more about eggs than butter, 10 years of selling sticks is ending this year.

As part of its Instagram announcement last week, Vital Farms asked customers to share their favorite way to use and enjoy its butter products. They provided a few examples of their own, like for making a butter cake or for sculpting an edible dish. The post did not include anyone’s butter-fied big yellow taxi, unfortunately.