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 The new beverage is available at 1,300 locations in the U.S.
Midwest, the Seattle-based company said.
It also launched new beverages made with coconut and almond milk in
the United States and Canada. It has previously sold menu items made
with those milks.
Plant-based milks' popularity comes as more consumers shun cow's
milk, citing health and environmental reasons. Dairy sales have
fallen for the past four years, and some of the largest U.S. dairy
producers have filed for bankruptcy.
The alternative milk category stands at $1.8 billion, with sales of
oat milk jumping over sevenfold to $53 million over the past year.
Cow's milk sales came in at $12 billion for 52 weeks ending Oct. 26,
according to Nielsen's data, down from $15 billion in 2015.
Market research firm Mintel projects sales of nondairy milks to
reach $3.1 billion by 2023.
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Sweden-based Oatly, which supplies oat milk to Starbucks in the
Midwest, started production in the United States about three years
ago and has partnered with several cafes in the country, including
New York-based bubble tea café Boba Guys and Chicago-based
Intelligentsia.
The trend mirrors the popularity of plant-based meat substitutes,
with Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods adding their vegan patties and
sausages to menus at fast-food and fine-dining restaurants.
Starbucks has sold lattes and coffees with oat milk in Europe since
2018 and at a few of its upscale Reserve locations in the United
States since last year.
(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by
Hilary Russ in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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