The Cream of the (Oat) Crop: Oatly

(Image courtesy of Oatly)

My coffee order has evolved since I first began to drink coffee. Initially, it was an iced coffee with two sugars and whole milk. It then became iced coffee with almond milk. After years of trial and error, I have officially cemented my coffee order, an iced latte with oat milk with cinnamon on top (the cinnamon on top makes the drink taste like fall). When shopping for oat milk at the supermarket, the brand I turn to is Oatly. I had the opportunity to speak with Heidi Hackemer, Executive Creative Director. North America, to learn more about the cream of the oat crop.

(Image courtesy of Oatly)

What makes Oatly different from milk alternatives?

First of all, we’re obsessed with oats. We only do oatmilk and other dairy alternatives that come from oats and have been doing this for almost 30 years. We have a ton of oat knowledge that we put to work every day making our products and no one else focuses on oats the way we do.

Oats are pretty awesome – they require a lot less water and land than cow’s milk and when they’re made into oatmilk, they result in fewer emissions. They also have a neutral taste, and oatmilk performs really similarly to cow’s milk when you use it, which makes it a solid switch for coffee and cooking.

(Image courtesy of Oatly)

How does Oatly promote environmentalism around the world?

To start, just by making our products! By making a viable dairy alternative, we help millions of people do better for the environment in their day to day lives. We do everything we can to make sure that more people have that choice and, when people interact with us, we are unapologetic about being a company that exists to help fight climate change.

We’ve led the way by adding our CO2e numbers to our packages starting in Europe. In Germany, we also led a national coalition and movement to petition the Bundestag to add CO2e labeling to all food packages. When the European Union was being lobbied hard by the dairy industry to pass Amendment 171 – a set of rules that would make doing business and marketing difficult for plant-based milk companies - we launched a counter campaign against the proposed rule and ultimately defeated it.

(Gif courtesy of Wix)

Why should a customer buy your drink?

There are a ton of reasons, but what is really comes down to is that Oatly tastes great and it doesn’t wreck the planet.

(Image courtesy of Oatly)

How does Oatly incorporates its mission and vision into its product offering?

Our mission is to create products that taste good without needlessly taxing the planet’s resources. By virtue of 100% focusing on oats as an alternative to dairy, every single product we make stems from our mission.

(Image courtesy of Oatly)

What is the future of the company?

We want to create a future where people can happily eat more plants (and therefore less dairy) so that we can all help save the planet. There are plenty of people who don’t have access to that promise yet but we’re working hard to make sure that more and more people can and want to make that choice.

(Image courtesy of Oatly)