GEISLINGEN/STEIGE (Germany) – Coffee specialities with plant-based alternatives to milk have become an important sales driver in the coffee industry. The new cooperation between WMF Professional Coffee Machines and vly underscores this sustainable development.
With their combined expertise in the areas of machine technology, coffee excellence, plant-based beverage trends and forward-thinking food development, the two partners aim to actively promote a vegan/vegetarian future in the German coffee industry.
“As a provider of comprehensive solutions, we are committed not only to equipping customers of WMF Professional Coffee Machines with the necessary machine features, but, just as importantly, to share our knowledge and expertise relating to important beverage trends and their high-quality, profit-enhancing implementation by caterers and restaurant proprietors.
A partnership with vly, a Berlin-based food start-up in the field of plant-based alternatives, allows us to advise and support customers even more comprehensively than before,” says Axel Fähnle, Head of Global Brand Marketing, Content and Market Activation, GBU Professional Coffee Machines at WMF GmbH.
WMF and vly together
Above and beyond this, the Geislingen-based premium manufacturer offers the entire range of plant-based milk alternatives. Here, WMF works together with well-known suppliers such as Alpro, the market leader for plant-based alternative products.
The reasons why people today prefer plant-based alternatives to cow’s milk are as varied as the people themselves. For instance, the percentage of the population that is consciously choosing a diet without or with only a few animal products is steadily increasing.
An international study by market research institute Arizton predicts a global market volume of more than 38 billion US dollars and an average annual growth of 14 percent in the period 2018 to 2024.
Logically, this change is also noticeable in the coffee industry. Guests can enjoy their coffee specialities with soya, oat or almond drinks almost everywhere. In addition, the new milk alternatives made from pea protein are increasingly popular. “Milk alternatives are much more than just substitute products.
Many guests simply find that their favourite beverage tastes better when it is prepared with plant-based drinks. When it comes to variety, creativity and quality assurance, we support this new trend proactively and with sustainable solutions,” says Axel Fähnle. And the new cooperation with vly proves that WMF’s contribution is not limited to the development of machines such as the “WMF 2-Milk-Solution”.
The automatic coffee machines
The initial contact between the two partners came about recently, when the two companies were working on the same customer project, which has now been successfully realised. During this project, the Walldorfer SAP Group equipped the WMF fully automatic coffee machines in its offices with 4-litre bags-in-boxes from “vly Barista” – an alternative to milk, based on vegetable protein from peas which, thanks to high-quality processing, offers an excellent taste profile and foaming behaviour thanks to high-quality processing.
Extensive beverage testing in the development laboratories in Geislingen also revealed its great potential for new coffee specialities of consistently premium quality and laid the foundation for a long-term partnership.
“As one of the world’s leading coffee machine manufacturer, 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 speciality 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,” Fähnle added.
This partnership with WMF Professional Coffee Machines is an important motor for the internationalisation strategy of vly (VF Nutrition GmbH) in the out-of-home sector.
Nicolas Hartmann, co-founder of vly: “We believe that we can bring about change with our products. In recent years, many people have become more aware of nutritional issues. This has led to increasing interest in plant products, which we are seeing in the form of continually rising demand from end consumers.”
“It also goes without saying that 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”.
