Almond, soy or oat milk – what’s your favourite? Here at Responsible Cafes, we looove a good oat milk! As we all know, dairy-free milks are an absolute must-have at cafes nowadays. And that is just one of the many reasons we have partnered up with The Alternative Dairy Co.
The Alternative Dairy Co. – or ADC for short – is the new kid on the block when it comes to milk alternatives. And yet at only 18 months old, this company is making some big impacts! For our Stronger Together Cafe Summit we were lucky enough to chat with Rachel Glasbergen, an Alt Dairy Co. expert, who offered a fantastic peek into the inner workings of this company.
But first, context!
The Alternative Dairy Co. is 100% Australian owned and is part of the Sanitarium family of brands. You may recognise Sanitarium from products like Weetbix, Up&Go and So Good. Rachel has worked at Sanitarium for over a decade! Sanitarium pioneered the way for dairy-free milk in Australia and are the current market leaders. Something we love is that Sanitarium is a not-for-profit organisation and 100% of the profits go back into communities. Sanitarium was the first company to bring plant milk to Australia 33 years ago. They created So Good soy milk in response to the consumer demand for a dairy alternative. 9 years ago they added almond milk, and in the last 2 years oat milk.
Here at Responsible Cafes, we created a brilliant Mylk Guide for cafes and customers – this has become known as one of our most helpful guides! It helps you make the best choice when it comes to mylk options with facts, figures, awesome information and a gold medal mylk winner!
The Alternative Dairy Co. was launched as a product aimed at the cafe and food service industry. They offer a range of barista plant-based milks – oat, almond and soy – specifically perfected for cafes. Their goal is to create the best non-dairy alternatives for cafes; from their processes, ingredients, farms and front of house operations. ADC works with their own barista community to create the ‘ultimate experience in a cup’. The team has worked hard to create products that are as neutral as possible. This way, they complement the coffee beans and you can truly taste that awesome brew!
Something truly special about the ADC products is they are blended on the Central Coast of NSW for Aussie baristas. The raw materials for their oat and almond products are sourced from farms in Riverina in NSW and these partners have robust sustainability policies in respect to their water use, running their own worm farms and caring for and protecting bees – something we love to hear!
So, the ADC prioritises local ingredients as much as possible, and their own products are made locally! The company is alway looking for ways to reduce their environmental impact. Rachel told us in their Central Coast factory, they recycle 100 million litres of water, the manufacturing sites are moving towards greener energy, and they are working towards zero-waste landfill. They are currently at 9%, having already reduced 91% of waste through a prevention, reduction recycle and reuse approach. The Alt Dairy Co. is in the early stages of looking at a full life-cycle analysis of their soy, oat and almond products. They plan to engage a third party to study the environmental impacts of their product and the value chains all the way from planting the crops, to manufacturing it in factories and then to placing it in consumers hands and the disposal after. This will be some very handy information for us here at Responsible Cades to pass along to you all!
The Alternative Dairy Co. is excited for cafes to try their product, so head to their website for free samples.
Check out our interview below with Rachel filmed at our Stronger Together Cafe Summit!