The deal with Milk & More means the product will now be delivered in reusable glass pint bottles to doorsteps before 7am across most of England.
According to data from Nielsen Scantrack, sales of products made from oat, almond and soy increased by 239% between February 2010 and February 2020. The company said that since its consumption heyday in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, per-capita consumption of milk in the UK has fallen by a third.
The drink is made with oats sourced exclusively from UK farms, and Oato said its site has capacity to meet UK-wide demand.
Carl Hopwood, founder of Oato, said, “We’ve been producing fresh oat drink with great success for local milk rounds. Demand has been growing and we’re thrilled to now be able to deliver to doorsteps across the UK via Milk & More and our network of other distributors. Oato is a fresh product that tastes creamier than long life supermarket alternatives. It needs to be refrigerated, like dairy milk, so once your milk has arrived, pick it up in the morning and pop it in the fridge.”
Oato is lactose, nut, sugar and soy free. It is naturally sweetened through enzymes that are used to break down the starch into shorter sugars.
The pint bottle has been an iconic doorstep delivery symbol in the UK for more than 100 years. Oato said each bottle is used on average 25 times, and the glass is then recycled.