Bengt Anker of Oatly: “I feel like an ambassador for the organic sector”

Bengt Anker, co-founder of Oatly, the Swedish brand for oat milk alternatives, has recently retired. As Sales Manager, he made significant contributions to the success of the company, which now, almost 30 years from its establishment, sells its products throughout Europe. Anker spoke to organic-market.info about his retirement, which he considers an “extended holiday period”.

organic-market.info: Mr. Anker, you helped establishing the company Oatly and turned it into a successful business. How do you look back on your professional life?

Bengt Anker: Oatly was the world's first oat drink and in the beginning, it was quite difficult to convince the various buyers. I have often heard: “What is this? A drink made of oats? No thanks, we have soy and that's enough!” I am particularly pleased that perhaps, Oatly has helped to change some people's eating habits a bit – towards more herbal food. Without my fantastic colleagues all this would not have been possible.

Now you're retiring. How does that feel to you?

It's a big change. I have always travelled a lot, not only in Germany, in all EU countries I worked as a Sales Manager for the organic trade. I have seen and experienced a lot. I've met such nice people everywhere: wholesalers, chain stores and consumers.

What are you going to spend your time with now?

I enjoy this new phase in my life and I want to work in my forest more. I've missed it for the last ten years. I also hope that I can convince Swedish farmers to convert more agricultural land into organic acreage. So far we only have 18 percent organic land and the target is 30 percent according to our government. I feel like an organic ambassador.

What's on the agenda at Oatly's?

Next, we are expanding our production capacity at the Landskrona plant to 100 million litres and we are founding a subsidiary in Germany based in Berlin.

Who will take over your former duties at Oatly?

This is done by various former Oatly colleagues who are responsible for different countries. In Germany, Iris Ehmcke continues to look after the organic customers. She is now employed at the new subsidiary Oatly Germany GmbH.

Background

Based on Swedish research from Lund University, Oatly was founded in the 1990s. By only using Swedish oats for their production, the company turns fiber rich oats into nutritional liquid food by applying its patented enzyme technology. The Oatly Headquarters are situated in Malmö, whereas the company’s Production & Development Center is located in Landskrona, Sweden. Oatly products are distributed within more than 20 countries in Europe as well as in Asia.