Client Success - The Apple Press and now Boring Oat Milk
The Beaton family are synonymous with business here in Hawkes Bay. They have established several businesses, spanning multi generations and have been at the forefront of many commercial initiatives.
PKF Carr & Stanton are excited to be involved with innovative businesses and entrepreneurs. One such entrepreneur is Ross Beaton, founder of The Apple Press and now co-owner of Boring Oat Milk.
Ross has a very impressive production facility at Whakatu, fitted out with world leading technology to produce, package, label and dispatch The Apple Press Juice. The technology also provides market-leading quality control, which in turns allows for a superior fresh taste experience whilst extending the shelf life of the products.
For such a young product The Apple Press juice has been very successful and received several awards already, including being recognised as the nation’s best non-alcoholic beverage at the New Zealand Food Awards in 2018. As well as being stocked in national supermarkets The Apple Press juice is now exported to Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan and China.
As an entrepreneur who is always open to opportunity and innovation, Ross has now expanded his successful fruit juice operation to bottle, package and dispatch Boring Oat Milk.
Boring Oat Milk was founded by Morgan Maw who was originally from Taranaki. She is a massive fan of oats and was keen to produce New Zealand's first commercially made oat milk, using New Zealand oats. Morgan was already working with oats and saw a huge gap in the commercial market for a New Zealand produced, eco-friendly, plant-based milk alternative.
The oats are grown in the South Island and make their way to Hawkes Bay to be manufactured into milk. The manufacturing process is intensive – they are de-husked, kiln roasted, decanted in huge tanks of warm water, and then run through UHT lines and a homogeniser. As there were no existing milk plants available in New Zealand, Morgan looked to The Apple Press because the oat milk process has similarities to that of producing fruit juice. The Apple Press had a lot of the right equipment but not quite everything, so some plant enhancements were required.
When asked about the brand name Boring®, Morgan says that it’s a deliberate play on humour. She describes milk as an everyday product, a supporting act – the star of the show should be the coffee or cereal. The milk should pair well, taste good and be reliable, stable, constant and of good consistency.
Over the next few years, we expect to see enormous growth in the alternative milk space and as people already eat porridge the gateway to oat milk may be an easier one. Earlier this year when Morgan was looking for an investor to assist with the business, Ross and his investment group came on board and have now partnered with Boring Oat Milk. They can see the vision that Morgan has created and believe that Boring Oat Milk has a promising future.
Boring Oat Milk is now stocked in most New Zealand supermarkets and if you would like more information or to place an order head to their website https://boringmilk.com/
Ultimately Morgan would like to see our distinctly New Zealand brand on the world stage. Given the export success of The Apple Press, we think the partnership between Morgan and The Apple Press makes for an extremely exciting future.
PKF Carr & Stanton congratulate Ross and Morgan on their success so far and look forward to continuing to be a part of their future.