Mcqueens to deliver oat milk in bottles
Mcqueens Dairies has announced a new supply agreement to deliver oat milk in glass bottles to doorsteps for the first time.
The Glasgow firm has joined with specialist producer Oato, and the latter’s oat milk will now be delivered from all 12 Mcqueens Dairies depots in Scotland and the north of England.
Mcqueens Dairies has offered oat milk supplied in Tetrapak packaging since mid 2020 but requests from customers for products supplied in glass bottles have grown rapidly over that past two years.
The Scottish business said oat milk’s fans include Oprah Winfrey, movie star Natalie Portman and rap star Jay-z, and it cited data from international research company Kantar from July showing that sales of oat milk had almost doubled to £94.3 million from £47.8m in the UK over the previous year.
Calum Mcqueen, operations director at Mcqueens Dairies, said: “We’ve seen demand for milk supplied in reusable glass bottles, and for oat milk, increasing so we’re pleased to be working with Oato to supply customers with bottled oat milk.”
Carl Hopwood, founder of Oato, said: "We’re delighted to supply Oato through Mcqueens Dairies, we’re aligned with their mission to delight customers every day whilst reducing plastic waste. We’re excited to hear feedback from more households waking up in Scotland and Northern England to a Uk-made dairy alternative in reusable glass. The UK grows an abundance of oats and we’re proud Oato is a sustainable dairy alternative made with 100 per cent British oats.”
A property marketing specialist is eyeing a push into the events and exhibition sectors after seeing its virtual tour business boom during the pandemic.
Property Studios, which has offices in Edinburgh and Kinross-shire and works with properties across Scotland, has also recruited an additional eight staff, bringing its headcount to 32.
Founder Michelle Milnes said the business responded to the pandemic restrictions by developing a suite of products to support its clients – leading to a 50 per cent increase in revenues.
Recent growth means the firm now has national contracts with more than 30 major estate agents as well as a dozen housebuilders.
Every month it completes an average of 100 3D tours, 50 live virtual viewings and 50 virtual projects, as well as 500 photo-shoots, creation of 500 floorplans, 350 brochures, 100 films, five full CGI projects and five drone films.
Since it was founded in 2014, the firm has become a key player in the Scottish property scene, particularly in Edinburgh’s housing market.
Milnes said: “We’ve worked hard for this success and the irony isn’t lost on me that it’s now coming as a result of the pandemic which has left so manyotherjobsandbusinesses
flattened. It’s pleasing that our technology kept a number of smaller property agents from going out of business.
“The various lockdowns have played to our strengths, while the housing market has remained buoyant.
“Our remote video tours and other services were already part of the buying and selling process, but as add-on marketing tools. Now restrictions mean house hunters realistically need to take virtual tours first. Then they can arrange
a socially distanced property viewing.”
While the increased demand for property services and the need for staff to work remotely curtailed the firm’s plans to develop services for other sectors, it has been contacted by organisations in hospitality and the arts.
“Our focus had to be on servicing the increased demand from our existing clients and making sure we could deliver everything being asked of us,” added Milnes. “However,
we are now we are in a very strong position with a stable platform from which we can launch into new markets.
“We are already working with a number of venues and exhibition spaces. Being able to let potential guests view dining areas, bedrooms or other event spaces and even to take measurements is a potential game changer, by letting them plan their events remotely.
“Venues which may have dabbled with this technology are now likely to see it as a serious
and important tool to help them out of lockdown and to increase business revenues. Just like the property sector, we expect there will now be an acceleration of adoption of this. Likewise, exhibitions have been totally shut down. We can allow them to reopen virtually and reach potential visitor across the globe. That’s before we even start talking about the potential value of having exhibitions.”