Oatly to Open New 19,000-Square-Foot Facility in U.S. to Keep Up With Demand

Oatly to Open New 19,000-Square-Foot Facility in U.S. to Keep Up With Demand

  • Julie Cappiello
  • Julie Cappiello

Vegan milk company Oatly will open a new 19,000-square-foot facility in Millville, New Jersey, to meet the demand for its products. This new facility will expand the Swedish brand’s production capacity eightfold.

An environmentally conscious company that reuses its waste, Oatly has a wide line of vegan products made from GMO-free Swedish oats, including five types of oat milk, and will expand to vegan oat yogurt, oat cream, ice cream, canned lattes, and crème fraîche.

Products from the New Jersey facility will be made with oats grown in the Midwest and Canada. Oatly’s pledge is to deliver products with “maximum nutritional value and minimal environmental impact.”

The company launched its products in the U.S. in 2016 for the first time, supplying coffee shops before moving into grocery stores. Currently demand is “greatly outstripping production capacity.

But it’s not just Oatly. Elmhurst Milked, which made headlines for shifting from cow’s milk to plant-based varieties after 90 years in operation as Elmhurst Dairy, is also expanding. The company’s website announces:

You’ve seen Milked Almonds™, Milked Oats™, and Milked Brown Rice™. We love them, too—so much so that we’ve made special Barista Editions of these favorites for one of our greatest loves: coffee.

It’s about time. Reports from around the world show that consumption of animal milk is on the decline. In fact, consumption of cow’s milk in the U.S. has fallen a whopping 40 percent since 1970, while U.S. sales of dairy-free milk alternatives have soared by 30 percent since 2011. Dairy consumption is so low that New York dairy farmers are leaving the business altogether.

Americans aren’t the only ones making the switch. According to a press release by Innova Market Insights, the global market for plant-based milk is expected to reach $16.3 billion in 2018. This is up from $7.4 billion in 2010.

And it’s not just plant-based milk companies feeling the need to expand.

Over the summer, plant-based company Beyond Meat announced a second production facility in Missouri specifically to keep up with demand for its products. This expansion will not only increase production of the mock meats we know and love but create about 250 jobs, with more than 12 nations represented among Beyond Meat’s staff members.

The new state-of-the-art facility will have high-efficiency lighting and new water recirculation, reducing water consumption by nearly 80 percent, and will allow the company to test out new products and expand its line. The facility will also increase Beyond Meat’s manufacturing footprint more than threefold, from 30,000 to 100,000 square feet.

Ethan Brown, CEO and founder of Beyond Meat, stated:

Our expansion not only brings more jobs and opportunity to this special community but also furthers Missouri’s position as a leader in the production of plant-based meat.

With consumers increasingly aware of the egregious animal cruelty, environmental damage, and alarming health risks inherent in meat and dairy consumption, it’s no surprise more people are swapping animal-based products for vegan alternatives.

Haven’t tried Oatly yet? You can find the brand at ShopRite, Wegmans, Whole Foods, and Target.

Looking to ditch animal products altogether? Download our FREE Vegetarian Starter Guide for tips, tricks, vegan recipes, and much more.