When Oat Becomes Health, Oatly
In the early 1990's Rickard Öste, professor at the Department of Applied Nutrition and Food Chemistry at the University in Lund, Sweden, started a project aimed to find an alternative product to milk that could be used in everyday life. The project later on developed into a company named Oatly. Today the company export their oat products to 20 different countries all over the world and have experienced a rapid economic growth during the last years. To find out more about Oatly and their recent development Øresund Food Network visited their new headquarter in Landskrona and met up with Angie Triantafyllou, development manager at Oatly.
- It all started as a research project with no real intention to become a business. Rickard Öste initiated the project and was the driving force behind the whole idea. His enthusiasm attracted investors to make the idea possible. It soon became clear that there was a great interest in food products based on results from this research project. Today there are very few beverages that have as complete nutritional profile as ours and that can be used to replace milk. Many people suffer from different intolerances related to milk which doesn't make it easy to live in an environment where milk products are used so frequently, Angie Triantafyllou begins.
When Oatly launched their first product it was as an alternative to milk for people with special needs. Though, over the last couple of years the food industry has seen some major changes, this also concerns Oatly. There is a whole new segment of healthy food on the market and the demand for such products is growing by the day.
- In the beginning we were ahead of our time, but now our products are right on the spot. In the beginning our products were aimed for people with special needs as an alternative to milk. But today the average consumer is more interested in healthier food with more fibre and the right combination of lipids and so on. I definitely think that the health trend is here to stay. The consumers are getting more aware of what healthy food means for a long and healthy life. There are many lifestyle related diseases that are linked to what we eat, says Angie Triantafyllou.
When marketing healthy food there is always a dilemma with the consumers opinion that healthy food does not taste as good as the traditional product.
- I think it is an everlasting problem and companies have to put in great marketing resources to handle the dilemma. In our case people do not buy a whole bottle just to find out if it tastes good. To communicate with consumers it is easier if they get a taste sample at one time or another. The average consumer often think that the healthier choice does not taste as good as the standard product. It helps a lot if you get the "word of mouth" going, but you first have to reach a critical mass of consumers, says Angie Triantafyllou.
In Sweden it has been possible to apply for the use of the so called PFP (Product-specific physiological) claim for a couple of years, which is a health claim authorised by The Swedish Food Federation. Oatly had initiated the process of receiving a claim according to the Swedish regulation but is now directing the efforts towards the new harmonizing European rules for nutrition and health claims on foods. The rules came into action 1st of July 2007.
- As I understand the coordination with health claims is well organized. The people involved in this process are well informed and have extensive knowledge on the subject. I think there is a good overall view of the food industry in their approach, says Angie Triantafyllou.
Oatly have its roots in the research world and even though they are now a big business, research and development is as important as ever for the company.
- It is even more now days. As time has gone by our collaboration with universities and research institutes has grown. We now have greater resources that we can develop into research, and it is always in our interest to discover new findings and build our own research. Our collaboration is mostly in surrounding areas within the universities in Lund, Uppsala and Gothenburg but we also collaborate with research institutes in other European countries such as Switzerland, Germany and France. The driving force of our research is to be in the frontline gaining deep knowledge on oat and its non-dairy products. Of course our product development profits from the outcome of our research, Angie Triantafyllou states.
The secret behind the Oatly success can be seen as a combination of research and development, enthusiastic people who believe in their ideas and as often, timing. It will be a great pleasure to see how Oatly will progress into the future, with new products and markets to conquer.
