WMF said it is ‘proactively’ supporting increasing demand for dairy alternatives within the automated coffee industry | Photo credit: WMF

Coffee machine manufacturer WMF has partnered with pea-based dairy alternative company vly to promote plant-based products in its native German market. 
 

WMF, which already partners with Belgium-based Alpro to offer plant-based dairy alternatives for office-based coffee machines, said it is ‘proactively’ supporting increasing demand for dairy alternatives within the automated coffee industry with more sustainable products. 

World Coffee Portal research found that oatmilk has risen in popularity in Germany over the last 12 months. Project Café Germany 2022 reported 13% of German consumers typically pairing oatmilk with their beverage, ahead of almond milk (10.9%).    

The report also asked industry leaders which dairy alternatives paired best with coffee. Oat was the most favoured with a rating of 8.07/10, followed by almond (5.50), soya (5.39), cashew (5.0) and pea (4.93). 

As part of its initiative with vly, WMF undertook a project for Walldorf-based SAP Group, equipping the software company’s WMF fully automatic coffee machines in its offices with vly Barista pea-based products.  
 

vly Barista can be connected to any WMF Professional Coffee Machines that has a WMF Connector. The device offers consumers the option of connecting two different milk alternatives to the same WMF professional coffee machine. 

"As one of the world's leading coffee machine manufacturers, we aim to actively shape markets and trends. With its fantastic product and its 'never stop learning' approach, vly is an important trendsetter. So it was only natural for us to continue this journey into the field of vegan specialty culture together. We are delighted to support an agile food start-up and look forward to providing comprehensive, revenue-boosting solutions together for new generations of connoisseurs," said Axel Fähnle, Head of Global Brand Marketing, WMF. 

Founded in 2018, vly received €6.1m ($5.9m) investment in May 2021 to scale its distribution in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and enter new European markets. 

"We aim to position ourselves as leading suppliers of milk alternatives for cafés and large companies – nationally and internationally. We see many points of contact through this new partnership with WMF, which has built up an excellent network in the industry, and we believe that the two companies can benefit from each other," said Nicolas Hartmann, Co-Founder, vly. 

Growing demand for dairy alternatives among self-serve consumers led UK-based Costa Coffee to trial a self-serve machine that uses only oatmilk. The coffee chain said the oatmilk-only Costa Express is part of a company effort to ensure that ‘on-the-go customers also have the chance to opt for a milk alternative’.