South Island Oat-Milk Brand Otis, Is To Produce Its Oatmilk In NZ After Three Years Abroad

South Island oat-milk brand Otis, is to produce its oatmilk in NZ after three years abroad. A new plant milk manufacturing site is to be built in east Auckland with beverage-maker Free Flow Manufacturing expanding its existing facility in Glen Innes to produce up to 50 million litres of plant-based milk annually. Otis is bringing production home from Sweden. Otis co-founders Tim Ryan and Chris Wilkie have previously shipped New Zealand oats to Sweden for manufacture due to the lack of technology required to produce premium oat milks to the gold-standard required. Grocery spending on plant-based milks in New Zealand has increased by 44 per cent from 2019 to the end of 2022, with sales jumping from $61 million to $88m. But until now New Zealand has had to rely on mainly imported products or those manufactured overseas to meet this demand. Otis will now join another kiwi brand Boring Oat Milk which has always manufactured its products in Hawkes Bay.