Oat-to-Market Strategy: Mike Messersmith and the Oatly Story

If you've been listening to the show for some time, you know that replacing animals in the food system is a topic very close to my heart. While the meat and egg industries in the grand picture have still been largely unaffected by plant-based competitors, that's not the case in the milk industry, where the explosion of plant-based milks has very tangibly cut into demand for cow's milk. Gone are the days when almond milk and soy milk were for vegans—now they're for everyone.

But just a few years ago, a new entrant into the plant-based milk world emerged. In 2015 oat milk was far less than 1 percent of the plant-based milk world. In fact, people hearing the term "oat milk" were probably more likely to think they'd heard people talking about "goat milk."

Not anymore. Thanks largely to one company, Oatly, oat milk is now the belle of the alt-milk ball. After three decades of toiling away far out of mainstream consciousness, Oatly has boomed, leading to its mega-successful 2021 IPO.