ADVERTISEMENT
According to the UK Coffee Shop Report commissioned by Square, demand for vegan milk alternatives, in particular, oat and almond is booming in UK coffee shops.
The Report analysed sales data from independent coffee shops and cafés across the UK to reveal a 4x year-on-year growth in the popularity of plant-based milk such as oat and almond drinks.
“We’ve noticed an increase in the popularity of plant-based milks this year,” Catherine Seay, Co-owner of Curators Coffee in Central London said in a statement sent to Vegan Food & Living.
“In the past, drinking alternative milks was mainly driven by dietary intolerances, but the popularity of plant-based diets have seen our alternative milks such as oat and soy increase significantly.”
Large coffee shops chains such as Starbucks and Costa have been upping their plant-based milk offerings by adding oat, coconut and almond milk to give customers more choice.
The news that demand is rising in coffee shops is in line with market research from Mintel that found plant-based milk sales rose by 30% between 2015 and 2017 and are still rapidly increasing.
Vegan milk producers such as Oatly have been struggling to keep up with the soaring demand for plant-based options, and have been forced to expand their manufacturing facilities due to rapidly “growing demand” from customers looking for dairy-free options.
Discover which high-street coffee shop chains offer the best vegan menus here.
