New Zealand based oat milk brand, Otis, has opened its new production line in East Auckland, aiming to produce about half a million litres of oat milk a month, from premium South Island oats.
The facility, owned by premium beverage producer, Free-flow Manufacturing is the culmination of an eighteen month project using food technology sourced from New Zealand, Germany and Sweden to create a world-class production facility for plant based milk.
Otis co-founder, Tim Ryan, said that it had taken the company nearly five years to establish a purpose-built factory with the technology required to produce premium oat milks.
"New Zealand farmers grow some of the highest quality oats globally. And with this facility, we're producing arguably the highest quality oat milk in the world,” he said.
“We invite all New Zealand oat milk drinkers to try our optimised recipe and taste the difference in freshness, quality and flavour. We’ve raised the bar significantly for oat milk made in New Zealand.”
Launched in 2018, Otis was New Zealand’s first oat milk producer, working with plant-based technology company, Cerealiq’s patented enzyme technology. To safeguard the premium recipe, the company made the decision to export New Zealand oats for manufacturing in Sweden.
Now that the technology is available in New Zealand, Ryan and co-founder, Chris Wilkie, are excited to produce the freshest, highest quality, oat milk in their homeland.
“This new facility will produce our oat milk recipe to the world-class standard levels of beta-glucan, the nutritional gold ingredient found in Otis oat milk. Beta-glucan helps the body to maintain stable cholesterol levels and a healthy gut,” said Wilkie.
The opening is a significant move for the New Zealand plant-based beverage industry. Otis works closely with the New Zealand Oat Industry Group, which includes Plant Research, Harraways Mill, and around 70 farmers using oat varieties that have been optimised and developed over the past 20 years for the southern growing region.
The company’s return to New Zealand comes at a time of consistent growth in the plant-based milk sector, with oat milk making up 41 per cent of plant based milk sales in the country. Otis will be releasing its product range in a refreshed design of its 1 litre carton.
Otis’ new oat milk will be available for New Zealanders on supermarket shelves nationwide and online from 1 July.
