Camelicious has been round for nearly 20 years, producing milk from the world’s largest dairy camel farm, on the outskirts of Dubai. However new CEO Mark Wyllie is able to take camel milk to the following stage, with bold plans to at the very least double gross sales within the UAE. The mission is easy: extra folks, consuming extra camel milk, extra usually.
Wyllie says he has a powerful following however sees loads of headroom. “Possibly there’s solely 50,000 loyal customers of Camelicious within the UAE. Actually, there should be at the very least 100,000, ideally to 300,000, as a result of the advantages are there. It’s a superfood, it improves your intestine well being, it offers you power.” His job is to unlock that demand, extolling its heritage and well being advantages to a brand new viewers.
That begins with focus. Camel milk won’t attempt to tackle cow’s milk, which has a definite benefit on the subject of quantity and value. The corporate’s herd and output are massive by camel requirements however tiny subsequent to industrial dairy. To place it in context, the most important cow dairy within the Center East produces round 4 million litres a day. Camelicious, with 7,000 camels unfold over 6.4 sq. kilometres, produces 4 million litres a 12 months.
“We’re not going to compete head on with cows,” he says. “We’re actually not going to be pouring milk over the cornflakes. We’re after individuals who care about their well being and wellness. So, lattes, cappuccinos, matcha lattes, protein smoothies. Simply concentrate on these two or three events after which actually hold pushing them.”
This “event technique” is on the coronary heart of the plan. If camel milk turns into the default for a morning flat white or a post-gym shake, the class grows with out pretending to be a weekly staple for kids’s cereal bowls. Camel milk’s profile helps: naturally decrease fats than cow’s milk, totally different proteins that many individuals discover simpler to digest, and a clear, calmly candy style that blends easily. As Wyllie places it to sceptics at tastings, begin with a cappuccino or a smoothie and let the expertise do the work.
Milking it
The position discovered him unexpectedly, whereas he was working for Saudi-based dairy big Almarai. Up till he was approached by the Camelicious homeowners, Wyllie had by no means even tasted a drop of camel milk. “The job interview for camel simply dropped in,” he remembers. “I believed, I’m the proper facet of 60. I’m able to strive one thing totally different? Let’s go together with camels.”
Having began in the summertime, what have been his first impressions? “I didn’t anticipate it to come back with this quantity of affection. The model is beloved. The product’s superb.” Wyllie quickly began consuming camel milk and it’s protected to say he’s transformed. He now will get by way of half a litre a day, including it to his espresso.
If the UAE is the proving floor, China is the dimensions engine. Camelicious sells a major quantity of camel milk powder to older Chinese language customers in single-serve sachets who take it every day for wellness.
The attraction is a part of a story that Wyllie is eager to inform extra folks about “It’s traceable, it’s sustainable, it’s moral. It’s acquired all of the Dubai high quality behind it,” Wyllie says. “The following job is to essentially commercialise that, flip it right into a enterprise that not solely produces extremely wholesome, very worthwhile camel milk, however really reveals you can make a enterprise out of it.”
He appears to be like to different options to cow’s milk as his benchmark for progress. Ïf you may make a enterprise out of soy milk and almond milk and goat’s milk and all of those different costly issues, there’s undoubtedly a enterprise in camel milk. And that’s the bit we’ve acquired to show now.”
