The Glebe Farm Foods journey began in 2000 when Rayner and his sister Rebecca began toying with the idea of using the family farm to create their own food manufacturing business.
They started out selling products like handmade loaves of bread at farmers markets, and this snowballed gradually until they decided to switch the focus to oats in 2009.
Oats are gluten-free and they quickly noticed the potential of the nascent market they were entering and the draw of tasty products made with oats grown and processed on the same site.
“Oats are really a wonder product,” Rayner said.
“We can create the oat flakes for granola and oat milk, but we also produce a lot of gluten-free flour that can be used for biscuits, chocolate and cereals with new applications coming on every year.”
‘Lots of learning, lots of fun’
Throughout the podcast you can listen out for clips from our tour around the site, which includes a sneak peek inside the oat processing facility and the Tetra Pak plant.
Rayner, who has a background in engineering as well as farming, designed and built much of the machinery used on site and said that the switch from agriculture into food manufacturing is a rare one.
“It has taken a lot of learning, but it has also been a lot of fun,” he said.
“To this day though I am always looking forward and hope to develop a new process or application every year or so.”
One those new applications was announced earlier this year in the form of ‘Tea-rrific’, an oat drink specifically designed to pair with a cup of tea.
“I think we developed the product before we realised how it could be used, but it really makes sense as an occasion based option,” Rayner explained.
“Britain is a nation of tea drinkers and this is made from 100% British oats.”
And before we go, Rayner sheds some light on the company’s successful legal battle with Oatly over the use of the brand name PureOaty: “We wanted to stand up for what was right.”
You can also listen to our recent episode with Pip Murray, founder of the emerging peanut butter manufacturer Pip & Nut.
