Danish dairy major Arla Foods has launched a range of meal-replacement milk-based drinks in its home country.
The new Protein Food to Go range will also be rolled out in England and the Netherlands following the domestic launch, according to the company.
The drinks – available in chocolate caramel and vanilla hazelnut flavours – contain added vitamins, minerals and fibre. The meal-replacement beverages will include 30g of protein and 12g of fibre.
Henrik Lilballe, managing director of Arla's operations in Denmark, said: “We would like to help develop the beverage meal area together with our customers. Our expectation is that we can grow the relatively new subcategory within milk-based drinks.”
Lilballe noted that “drinking meals are relatively unknown to the Danes” and there is “clearly a lot of work in explaining to consumers how the products can be used and in which situations”.
Arla added that the “beverage meal” sector is growing in England and Germany.
“We expect a soft start because this is a completely new category that speaks to a very concrete consumption situation. And it's going to take some time. But we have great expectations, and we believe that Arla Protein Food to Go can become big in Denmark in the future,” Lilballe added.
In July, Arla revealed it was spending DKr20m ($2.9m) to support the growth of its Starbucks and Cocio milk drinks in Denmark.
The Danish group struck a licencing deal shortly before with US confectionery giant Mondelez International to produce and distribute chocolate milk under the Milka brand in Germany, Austria and Poland.
However, last week the dairy company warned that a milk production shortage and its impact on commodity prices could lead to retail prices increasing this year.
Peder Tuborgh, the Castello cheese and Lurpak butter brands owner’s CEO, said “supply and demand is slightly out of balance globally” following its first-half results.
Arla reported revenues of €6.6bn ($7.35bn) for the first half of 2024, down from €7.1bn in the first six months of 2023, a figure the cooperative said was driven by prices.
EBIT jumped 65% to €266m. Arla reported a profit for the period of €173m, 56% higher than in the first half of 2023.
Its guidance for the full year is for revenues of €13.4bn to €13.9bn, against previous guidance of €13.2bn to €13.7bn.
