IKEA Netherlands participates in ‘Eat No Animals Day’ and they are now also offering coffee with oat drink
Oat Drink at IKEA in the Netherlands
Oat Drink at IKEA in the Netherlands
From today on, 4th of October, IKEA Netherlands is also offering customers and employees oat drink for their coffee. A cup of coffee at IKEA is well known to many – the free coffee for IKEA Family members attracts many extra visitors to the restaurants every day. By offering oat drink as an option alongside cow’s milk, the Swedish store wants to introduce as many people as possible to plant-based food and drinks in an approachable way. They are also taking part in ‘Eat No Animals Day’, an initiative by the Dutch foundation ‘Wakker Dier’ (Awake Animal).
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Eat No Animals Day
Today, 4 October, IKEA Netherlands participates in ‘Eat No Animals Day’ once again, an initiative by Wakker Dier and some other catering companies follow them as well, check out the article on Hutten Catering. Today IKEA in the Netherlands will serve only vegetarian and plant-based dishes in its customer and staff restaurants and bistros. By doing so, IKEA wants to show that vegetarian and plant-based food can be very tasty and is an affordable alternative to animal products.
2 million cups of coffee
Around 2 million cups of coffee were made in Dutch IKEA stores in 2021 using over 200,000 liters of cow’s milk. IKEA is replacing cow’s milk with oat drink in more than half* of the coffee machines. This way, IKEA wants to inspire customers and co-workers to make conscious choices and make sustainable options affordable and accessible to all. IKEA has long been selling oat drink in the Swedish deli in three varieties: natural flavour, chocolate flavour and barista.
Marcel van Geijn, Food Manager IKEA Netherlands, says: “As a large retailer, we have a responsibility to make sustainable options affordable and accessible to as many people as possible. Because of the large scale on which we operate, we can make a real difference even with small changes. We already saw in the Swedish deli that the oat drink packs were very popular. By now offering oat drinks in the coffee – free for Family members – we want to introduce even more people to plant-based alternatives. Those alternatives have a lower impact on the climate than animal products. I hope the coffee with oat drink will become at least as popular as the coffee with cow’s milk.”
Oat drink | Plant-based soft ice cream | Plant-based Swedish meatballs
IKEA chose oat drink as its plant-based alternative because of its link to Sweden: oat drink originates there and therefore fits well with the store. In recent years, IKEA Food has introduced several affordable plant-based food options, such as plant-based soft ice cream and a plant-based version of the iconic Swedish meatballs, especially for meat lovers. The carbon footprint of the plant-based meatballs is 25 times less than that of the meat version. In the store in Utrecht, over 40% of the meatballs sold are already plant-based. IKEA wants its hot food offering in its restaurants worldwide to consist of 50% plant-based products by 2025. That goal has already been achieved in the Netherlands. Plant-based options are also cheaper than dishes with meat and fish. The steps within IKEA Food are in line with the Swedish store’s ambition to be climate-positive by 2030.
*In all customer and staff restaurants of IKEA Netherlands, more than half of the coffee machines now contain oat drinks. The coffee machines clearly indicate whether they contain oat drink or cow’s milk. The exact number of coffee machines with oat drink varies by store.
We previously wrote about more initiatives of IKEA.
Website: IKEA The Netherlands
