WMF Professional Coffee Machines has joined forces with the plant-based food group vly, with a view to promoting vegan and vegetarian offerings in the German coffee industry. The partnership will see the duo pool their expertise in the areas of machine technology, coffee excellence, plant-based beverage trends and forward-thinking food development, at a time when plant-based alternatives for milk are gaining popularity.

“As a provider of comprehensive solutions, we are committed not only to equipping customers of WMF Professional Coffee Machines with the necessary machine features, but, just as importantly, to share our knowledge and expertise relating to important beverage trends and their high-quality, profit-enhancing implementation by caterers and restaurant proprietors,” says Axel Fähnle, Head of Global Brand Marketing, Content and Market Activation, GBU Professional Coffee Machines at Wmf. “A partnership with vly, a Berlin-based food start-up in the field of plant-based alternatives, allows us to advise and support customers even more comprehensively than before.”

The move comes as plant-based alternatives to cow’s milk are becoming increasingly mainstream, with an international study by market research institute Arizton predicting a global market volume of more than US $38 billion and an average annual growth of 14% in the period 2018 to 2024.

In the coffee industry, customers can now enjoy their drinks with soya, oat or almond drinks almost everywhere, while new milk alternatives made from pea protein are also making waves. “When it comes to variety, creativity and quality assurance, we support this new trend proactively and with sustainable solutions,” says Fähnle.

WMF and vly’s new partnership came about via a mutual customer project, which saw the food group equip the WMF fully automatic coffee machines in its offices with 4-litre bags-in-boxes of vly Barista, a milk alternative based on vegetable protein from peas which, thanks to high-quality processing, offers a generous taste profile and foaming behaviour. Extensive beverage testing also revealed its potential for new coffee specialities, laying the foundation for collaboration. “We believe that we can bring about change with our products,” says vly co-founder Nicolas Hartmann. “We see many points of contact through this new partnership with WMF, which has built up an excellent network in the industry, and we believe that the two companies can benefit from each other.”