Stefan Schreiber and Jasmin Rath have a long history as a team, first as life partners and now as business partners. The idea for Plantarista began from Jasmin’s milk protein intolerance, where after many years of eating dairy-based products, she realized that her health was suffering; after that was done, she realized there was yet another challenge, accessibility. “I noticed how restrictive it was to go out with friends and family, and so with Plantarista, we want to give people the joy and freedom to access these products.” The main selling point and preoccupation of the Plantarista team is how easily this can be embraced, as other non-animal products haven’t yet broken into the mainstream in a lot of cafes in Austria.

“We asked cafe owners why they didn’t carry these other products, and they told us there was no cost advantage for them” adds Stefan, mentioning that Austria still has a higher number of animal milk consumers and cultures. “Their main complaint was that because the alternatives came in liquid form, they would spoil quickly, and that was not feasible for the number of orders for it they had.” The Plantarista alternative is powdered oat milk, now almost in its twelfth round of testing, and with the help of consultants from all areas of the food science and coffee industry including baristas, Stefan and Jasmin are confident that their product’s launch will change a lot of the ways both professionals and consumers think about and drink alternatives to animal milk. 

Main Photo by: Antje Wolm