Lancashire-based oat drink producer Oato is launching Oato Chocolate in 285 Tesco stores and 225 Waitrose stores across the UK from October 14. The 1-litre bottle has an RRP of £2.20 and will sit in the chiller next to the company’s barista oat drink, which both retailers already stock.
Oato Chocolate is the first flavoured product the company has placed with a supermarket. Like the rest of the range, it is sold fresh and is not ultra-heat treated (UHT), and Oato describes it as unique to the oat drink category for that reason. The company is positioning the drink for on-the-go consumption, for pouring over cereal and for adding to coffee as a mocha.
Flavours tested on the doorstep first
Oato has used doorstep delivery to try out new flavours before taking them further. A chocolate oat drink called Chocoloato was already part of its milk-round range in 2024, alongside a strawberry variant, when the company introduced a Caffè Latte made exclusively for Modern Milkman. In July this year, Oato followed with a limited-edition Fresh Oat Matcha Latte, again sold only through The Modern Milkman.
Oato says it is now the best-selling fresh oat drink on British milk rounds, the channel it relied on exclusively before entering retail.
Building chilled shelf space
The company’s supermarket presence has grown since its first listing with Booths in 2024. Oato has since added Waitrose, more than 375 Sainsbury’s stores, Ocado and almost 300 Tesco stores, all for its unflavoured barista oat drink.
Oato makes its drinks with 100% British oats at a bottling site in Lancashire that, according to the company, generates more solar power over a year than it consumes.
“We are so excited about this launch, in part because Oato Chocolate is truly delicious, but also of course because this sees us extend our shelf space, in not one but two major retailers. Our mission remains to bring delicious, fresh, British made oat drinks to breakfast tables across the country,” said founder Carl Hopwood.
