“More and more people are migrating to having regular coffees using plant-based[milk],and that continues to grow. That’s an important area for us to focus on,” Mr Perich told theSydney Morning HeraldandThe Age. Noumi will also look to ramp up exports,with its latest oat milk product performing well,he said.

“Definitely for Noumi,[the] plant-based[movement] is a significant driver of revenue growth,and that is a key area of focus for us.”

Mr Perich is among a number of other food and hospitality leaders,includingGrill’d co-founder Simon Crowe,Betty’s Burgers’ parent company chief Nishad Alani,and even poultry supplierIngham’s boss Andrew Reeves who are eager to meet growing consumer demand for animal product alternatives.

Mr Perich acknowledged thatinflationary pressures had led to higher input costs for raw materials such as milk,which Noumi would be passing onto its retail and distributor customers and likely onto the consumer. Global milk prices see-sawed immediately after the pandemic and have risen steadily since,and are now at levels not seen since late 2020.

“There is continued pressure on world dairy prices,which is across the board,so we will work with our customers around passing on those prices as we need to,” he said.