Oat is in

Research shows dairy-free milk has surged in popularity. Australian owned Alternative Dairy Co is determined to capitalise on the trend, expanding its barista range with the introduction of its new oat milk. Plant-based milks have become a part of Australia’s mainstream café culture. Baristas around the country are now adept at working with non-dairy products, with consumer demand driving cafés to introduce more variety. Read More
Almond Breeze Barista

Almond Breeze Barista Blend’s low-sugar future

Almond Breeze Barista Blend provides cafés with a great tasting and high performing low-sugar dairy alternative that ensures consumers can control how many calories go into their cup. The “low-sugar” movement is gaining momentum in Australia. Schools, hospitals, and sporting venues in several states are banning the sale of sugar-rich soft drinks and junk food in their canteens and cafeterias. Numerous organisations including the World Health Organization and Australian Medical Association have called for a tax on sugary drinks, similar to those imposed on tobacco and alcohol.
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Califia Farm’s plant power

In 1980, Greg Steltenpohl bought a box of oranges and borrowed a couple of hundreds bucks to buy a hand squeezing machine so he could sell fresh orange juice out of a van around San Francisco. “That was my first taste of business entrepreneurialism in the beverage industry,” Greg describes.  The small start-up would one day form the basis of Odwalla, a multimillion-dollar US supplier of fresh juice and nourishing healthy beverages, which Greg founded. The brand, later purchased by Coca-Cola, remains one of the fastest growing beverage ranges in the company’s suite of products. “Odwalla was a huge education in the business world of beverages,” Greg says. “I built it from scratch into a medium-size business. We were a publicly-owned company for a while and it became one of the first natural food companies that broke out into American mainstream culture. I’m extremely proud of that.”
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Leo DiCaprio and Jared Leto invest in Califia Farms 

Celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jared Leto, Karlie Kloss and Shaun White have become offical stakeholders in plant-based beverage company Califia Farms, which secured more than US$50 million in funding on 31 July. The Californian-based company recently launched its range of ready-to-drink almond milk and cold brew coffee beverages in Australia, providing consumers with a healthy, plant-powered alternative to traditional beverages. The new investors comprise a group of actors, musicians, professional athletes and supermodel entrepreneurs who support the values of a plant-based lifestyle.
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How to have healthy communication in the workplace

It’s 9:03am on a beautiful Friday morning in Sydney. It’s a fresh 22°C. The sun is shining and you’ve just started making a three-quarter skinny flat white for one of your loyal customers. You’ve got a smile on your face and your customer is pumped to see you. After a few minutes chatting, they leave for work with their coffee in hand.  From the outside everything seems perfect. But little did that customer know you’d been standing with direct sunlight in your face since 7am. The glare from your shining polished coffee machine is starting to give you a headache, and although you’ve mentioned it to your manager, nothing gets done about it. This has been happening for the last month since summer started because your boss wants to let in as much sunlight as possible. Apparently, “customers love it”. The situation has become so bad you dread coming to work and standing in the sun for six hours until it passes at around 2pm. What would you do?
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