Almond milk leads the alt-milks pack

On her dietician’s advice, in order to add more protein to her diet, homemaker Satvika Pasupathi switched to almond milk three years back. She had a glass each morning and night. Satvika used to buy it from the supermarket close to her house. But after the program ended, Satvika wasn’t too enthusiastic to continue the habit. “It was too expensive and stocking it was a hassle,” she shares the reasons for her lack of commitment.

Among the various alt-milks, almond milk is the most popular among Indian consumers, especially among those who have lactose intolerance and prefer a vegan alternative. The market, though slow-growing and niche, is expected to grow at the rate of 12.5% CAGR through 2030.

It is attributed to “…a growing amount of vegan population and aspiration to use premiumised alternatives,” says Chirag Kenia, founder, Urban Platter.

An ambient product, the demand for almond milk is more in metropolitan cities. It is available in the super and hypermarkets. But in recent times, especially post-COVID, the awareness is said to have grown leading to increasing adoption, making the demand grow in Tier 2 cities, too. “This comprises a small yet conscious percentage of consumers who make ‘health an everyday choice’ and not just an occasion. Loyalty to dairy-free milk is also growing among this health-conscious,” says Sheena Jain, co-founder, Sain Milk.

Plant-based was an emerging trend three years back, says Rahul Jain, co-founder & chief operating officer, Epigamia. But now the brand sales have caught up and deliveries are made through ZFW dark stores in the metros, and pan-India through Pickrr. Rahul Jain explains the reason for the 4x growth in the last three years. “Our focus has always been a ‘glocal vision’ – ‘locally made for the globe’.”

“The functionality for almond milk in India is that they need to work well in coffee and tea and also be cooking-compatible. We have custom-developed the recipe and process in-house to meet this expectation,” Kenia tells us.

Almond milk is made by soaking almonds in water overnight. The next morning, fresh water is added to the nuts and blended. The milk is secured by squeezing and sieving the mixture. The proportion for homemade almond milk is 1 cup of almonds to 2-4 cups of water. So the milk extracted will have roughly 10% of nutty goodness in it.

“But the at-home process leaves a lot of waste, for which I can’t come up with any use. The price per kilo of good quality almonds is anywhere between ₹600 and ₹900 and hence I don’t want to waste it anyway,” says Nandini Swaminathan, who switched to almond milk for a short time and when it wasn’t sustainable, she moved to quit dairy altogether.

“Most tetra packs bought from stores are only about 2-4% almonds and the rest is all water, thickeners, emulsifiers, oils, chemicals etc,” says Sheena Jain, co-founder, Sain Milk. “Sain milk has 20% nut content; the protein percentage matches the cow milk protein with only natural ingredients.” Clear labelling- such as ‘lactose-free,’ and ‘dairy-free’ helps them to reach the right consumers in the market.

Sain almond milk, delivered in bottles, through the brand’s own logistics can be stored for only 3-5 days in the refrigerator since there are no preservatives added to it. In addition to vanilla, Sain’s Cacao story has hazelnuts and dates and Kafeccino also has dates in addition to almonds.

In a market that lacks steady movement, everything including agile procurement, creating brand awareness, having a robust raw material supply chain, long-term contracts with co-packing partners and building a reliable distributors’ network to round-the-clock delivery are necessary to meet consumer expectations.

Epigamia’s product assessments start from its market research to identify and reach the right consumers. Then samples are introduced for taste trials. “That was how over the period of three years, we built our own plant-based consumer base and gained initial traction and awareness,” explains Rahul Jain. At the launch stage of a new product or variant, Epigamia looks for a considerable and potent production volume. The sampling and trials have only gone on to prove the fact that once consumers tried Epigamia’s products, they became its biggest cheerleaders.

Recently, Epigamia introduced its almond base yogurt alternative with a 21-day shelf life for trial, and associated it with vegan events and nutritionists for more feedback. “The feedback we receive has helped us to scale the business further,” claims Rahul Jain.

Urban Platter has invested in improving convenience and accessibility along with strong localisation. The brand has 11 distributors and is available across 500+ touchpoints across India. “By offering an easy-to-understand product, we have not done any marketing at all. Only 5% of our revenue goes into ads and marketing.”

Making almond milk isn’t a secret. So the niche market is attracting a lot of competition by way of new brands. Nevertheless, India is a country where animal-derived milk drinkers form the majority. According to a 2020 survey report published by Mumbai-based Good Food Institute (GFI), India and Ipsos, on average, plant-based consumers have 1.6 litres of animal-derived and 1.2 litres of plant-based milk in a week.

So traditional, animal-derived milk overshadows plant-based. “There are constant comparisons between the two and it makes it challenging for market penetration. Expectations regarding variety are also growing,” says Kenia.

High price of almond milk is one of the greatest deterrents for many potential consumers. Sheena points out that the price difference between animal-derived milk and almond milk is a given. “There is difference in cost of raw materials to start with. Moreover, animal derived milk has no GST whereas plant based milk has 18% GST.”

Subscription packages with special offer prices help to retain consumers. Nevertheless, arguments about its nutritional value and the production that harms the environment because of the huge water intake are odds stacked high against it. Still, brands hope that almond milk will grow to become a sustainable part of Indian diets.