Oatly: Starbucks To Offer Plant-Based Alternative At All Outlets Across India

Global coffee chain Starbucks recently announced that it will be introducing Swedish food tech Oatly’s dairy milk alternative made from oats at all its outlets across India, in order to offer consumers more plant-based options. Oatly joins existing plant-based options which include soy and almond milk.

India’s first Sustainability Venture Studio, White Lotus, is responsible for introducing the Malmo-headquartered Oatly to the Indian branch of Starbucks to cater to the growing number of sustainable consumers in the country.

This news comes after the coffee behemoth announced a partnership with Oatly and other plant-based startups to launch new plant-based options in eight Asian markets as well as in mainland China to drive the sustainable food revolution.

Back in August of last year, Tata Starbucks, the joint venture that owns and operates Starbucks outlets in India, opened two new stores in Delhi and Mumbai that are entirely run and operated by female staff, as a part of the company’s initiative to encourage and promote the representation of women in the workforce. 

Just like week, Oatly, recognized as one of the leading brands in the plant-based sector globally, filed to go public, with the Blackstone-backed company’s listing scheduled to take place once the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finishes its review process. According to a recent report from Bloomberg, Oatly could be looking at a valuation of US$10 billion in its U.S. stock market debut. 

Over the past year, the company has massively expanded internationally with its products now sold in more than 20 countries. Late last year, Oatly launched in Singapore for the very first time.

In addition, Oatly made international headlines thanks to its Super Bowl commercial featuring CEO Toni Petersson singing his original song “Wow, No Cow” in a field of oats. The advert set the Twitter-sphere ablaze, reaching millions of mass consumers and courting everything from widespread admiration to controversy. One thing’s for sure, the Swedish company helped put the plant-based movement firmly on the map.

The Superbowl stint also helped to also divert the negative attention the brand received after ex-Oatly fans lodged a boycott against the brand regarding its controversial US$200 million investment that it received from Blackstone, with has links of deforestation along with the CEO Steve Schwarzman being one of the main donors to Donald Trump Super PACs. 

Lead image courtesy of Animal Agriculture and Climate Change.