Oat milk firm All Good stirs up sales in South Korea

All Good exports to Singapore, the Middle East and South Korea. Photo / Supplied

Oat milk company All Good, which produces milk in Sweden, has expanded into South Korea and is gearing up to grow its business by 30 per cent.

The firm clocked $10 million in sales revenue over the past year. It said entering South Korea should allow it to significantly grow sales across online retail and hospitality distribution channels.

All Good already exported to Singapore and the Middle East, but this month debuted on South Korea's largest online marketplace, Coupang.

All Good general manager Faye MacGregor said the brand had garnered strong sales and good reviews from consumers. The business was now working with a team based in Korea to get local cafes to stock and use its oat milk, she said.

"It is such a sophisticated and developed coffee market so for us it is all about now going into different channels beyond retail, into cafes, into restaurants, basically wherever there is a good barista we want them to have our oat milk," MacGregor said.

New Zealand is All Good's largest market but in the next few years it expected South Korea and its export market to overtake that and account for at least half its revenue.

It was also gearing up for further offshore expansion, with Europe in its sights.

"Since we launched in the last 18 months we have been fielding a lot of interest from offshore markets. [We're in the process] of understanding where our products are a good fit, how we can support that market and where we think it is going to go."

All Good products were supplied to more than 1000 cafes across New Zealand and sold in a wide range of supermarkets.

The company predicted South Korea would account for about 25 per cent of its sales revenue within the next financial year.

"We've already got several hundred thousands of dollars of product in market and it is definitely going to be a million-dollar market within the first 12 months."

All Good has offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and its products were made in Sweden, which it called the "home of the oat milk".

The company was founded in 2010 by founders Chris Morrison, Matt Morrison and Simon Coley, the people behind Karma Cola.

Faye said the business initially explored opportunities to produce locally but at the time there was no manufacturing capability to produce the quality it strived for.

Faye said All Good milk was not made not from oat concentrate like rival companies.

"Not all oat milks are created equal and some are made using an oat syrup and the product is boiled down and dietary fibre is actually turned into sugar but ours uses a whole oat as per the Swedish manufacturing process."

Faye MacGregor, general manager of All Good. Photo / Supplied

All Good has backed plans for the construction of a proposed $50 million carbon-neutral oat milk factory in Makarewa, Southland by New Zealand Functional Foods, expected to be New Zealand's first purpose-built oat milk processing facility.

Construction of the factory received $1m from Warehouse Group founder Sir Stephen Tindall's investment firm K1W1.

All Good was now reviewing its options and yet to decide how much if any production to bring to New Zealand once the plant opened at the end of next year.

Faye said the plant could enable the business to grow its manufacturing and further expand offshore.

"We're excited about the opportunity to be able to produce locally in New Zealand through New Zealand Functional Foods as part of the factory that is going to be built. We feel that will create opportunities for us to access new markets."

All Good was scoping out expansion plans for Europe, but would remain focused on growing the business in South Korea over the next year, she said.

Liz Kim, a buyer for Coupang, said the supply deal with All Good was exciting.

"We are thrilled to be partnering with All Good oat drink, as it really does stand out in terms of taste, quality and health benefits - and we know our customers value the high quality of the product."