Oatbedient is based in Singapore and specialises in both oat milk powder and RTD oat milk, with an emphasis on clean label ingredients for all of its products.
“One of the plant-based milk sector’s biggest issues today is with consumers being wary of certain ingredients used in its processing, which is why we specifically developed our USP to be no junk and no fillers in terms of ingredients,” Oatbedient parent company Listen Up Senior Manager (Business Development) Alex Seh told FoodNavigator-Asia.
“The whole idea is to keep our ingredient list as minimal as possible, and we have removed things like maltodextrins and gums that are usually used to bulk up the oat milk but provide no health benefits.
“So our products are essentially clean label, with a particularly clear example in the ready-to-drink (RTD) product Oat Milk Zero which has just three ingredients: water, oats and salt.
“The barista range has some rapeseed oil in it for applications requiring increased foaming, e.g. lattes, but that is about it.”
Oatbedient has been making steady progress in the region, not just in home base Singapore but in about 10 other markets such as Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong.
“The target is definitely first younger consumers such as Gen Zs and millennials as these are the ones who prioritise narratives like healthier living and are also more educated in the benefits of milk alternatives,” he added.
“It is only after we get through to the younger consumers that we can really get to and affect the older ones via word of mouth or otherwise, as accessing the older generation is definitely one of the more difficult challenges faced by the plant-based sector.
“That said, as younger consumers today mature who have grown up drinking oat milk, in future we do see the demand for this growing as they become the main purchasing crowd.”
In addition to positioning itself as a plant-based beverage, Oatbedient also has big plans o take over the creamer market and replace the use of non-dairy creamers, which are very widely used in Asia.
“Non-dairy creamers are everywhere due to their format being very convenient and providing some level of creaminess to drinks and foods, but these are not what one would call a healthy option,” he said.
“We believe that our oat milk powders have the potential to affect the entire non-dairy creamer market and replace all non-dairy creamers, as we have both a nutritional, health and taste advantage.
“This is not only in terms of creamers being used for beverages, but also creamers being used in foods such as in recipes for curries and sauces – oat milk powders can replace the creamers to provide the desired mouthfeel and creaminess, whilst also bringing the benefits of oats.”
Oatbedient’s oat milk powders and RTD beverages are available via e-commerce as well as offline supermarkets such as NTUC FairPrice and Cold Storage in Singapore.
Powder potential
In addition to the creamer market in Asia, the firm is also looking at expanding its footprint to Europe and the United States by bringing in its oat milk powders as a more novel concept.
“Western consumers are familiar with oat milk as the liquid or RTD format, but much less so with the powdered format,” he added.
“Oatbedient oat milk powders come in beverage sachets (original, chocolate, lite with chia seeds) or its café series (oat milk latte, matcha latte, mocha latte), and many Western consumers have made positive comments about the taste but are still needing to get used to the format, so powder exports here definitely still need to take time to grow.”
