Finnish plant-based brand invests seven figures to drive UK presence

Oddlygood was founded in 2018 in Finland and has since seen growing success across European markets.

Notably in Sweden, the Oddlygood Barista Oat Drink is ‘doing very well’ compared to one notable market leader, Claudia Jones, Oddlygood’s national sales manager for the UK revealed to Food Manufacture.

In fact, on a global level, the brand has grown 40% year-on-year.

Oddlygood launched in the UK last June, securing listings in Tesco and Morrisons with its Dreamy Desserts range. Now it has made its debut in Asda, which will see two of Oddlygood’s flavoured barista oat drinks (vanilla and salted caramel) and two of its Dreamy Desserts (lemon and berry) hitting shelves this week.

“We see the UK as a big growth area,”​ Jones continued.

“The oat drink market is very competitive,”​ she added, noting that the plant-based market has a ‘tough time’ as a result of the cost-of-living crisis, with those who ‘do not require’ alternatives due to allergens, tending to opt for perhaps more affordable, traditional dairy-based milks.

Alongside its flavoured drinks and yogurts listing in Asda, the supermarket will also be bringing the brand’s original barista oat drink to shelves in June 2024.  

Oddlygood says the drink’s ‘excellent formability’ is a result of the high protein content – at 1.2g per 100g. It also uses 100% of the oat flour – an uncommon find in the barista plant-based portfolio, according to Jones.   

She informed Food Manufacture that its ‘special production process’ ensures that its oat flour is utilised to its full potential.

“When processing the oat flour, nothing is filtered out which means that the oat waste gets minimised in our factories,”​ she said.

“We start from fine oat flour and don´t filter anything out, thus no byproduct is created at the​ factory. We can’t say zero waste since there is always some waste in the production when washing the pipes etc., but our process is not built around filtering part of the oat out.”​

The manufacturing factory process has seen significant investment to help minimise waste as well as to improve quality.

The company has also made a seven-figure marketing investment this year, to help drive further market expansion. This includes a new global campaign, ‘An Ode to Oddness’, that aims to ‘celebrate the unique and make odd the new norm’.

This circles back to an initial consumer reaction in Finland which inspired the name: ‘it’s oddly good’. The brand has said the campaign serves as a reminder as to ‘how surprisingly delicious plant-based foods can be’.

The brand will also be bringing its seasonal drinks later to the UK later this year. This includes a pumpkin spice oat drink and a cinnamon roll version, which will come in 0.5 litre portions.