Oak (flavoured milk)

Oak (stylised OAK) is an Australian pasteurised flavoured milk brand owned by French multinational corporation Lactalis. It was first established in 1967 in New South Wales, as the general dairy brand of the Raymond Terrace Co-operative and its successor the Hunter Valley Co-operative Dairy Company. The origin of the Oak brand goes back to 1903.^[1] Oak flavoured milk was launched into Queensland, South Australia and Victoria in 1998. It was discontinued in Victoria in 2006 but relaunched in 2010. Oak launched into Western Australia in October 2013.^[2][3]

Oak

Type	Flavoured milk
Manufacturer	Lactalis
Country of origin	Australia
Region of origin	New South Wales
Introduced	1967
Flavour	Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla Malt Banana Iced Coffee Egg Nog Gold Caramel White Choc Pineapples Peppermint Crisp Fantales Death by Chocolate Vanilla Killa Salted Caramel Banana & Honey Cookies & Cream Strong Iced Coffee Choc Mint Caramel Coffee Mocha Cinnamon Donut Molten Caramel Chilly Choc Chili Choc Peanut Butter Blue Heaven Lime Spider Mocha Rocky Road Caramel Popcorn Cola Spider Jaffas Chokito Redskins Jam Ball Donut Choc Honeycomb
Variants	Full cream, light and strong flavours

Products

 

Chocolate Oak in 750ml size

Oak flavoured milk comes in the following flavours:^[4]

• Chocolate (core product)
• Strawberry (core product)
• Banana (core product)
• Vanilla Malt (core product)
• Iced Coffee^[5]
• Egg Nog^[6] (available in South Australia)
• Gold Caramel White Chocolate^[7] (launched May 2020)

In collaboration with Allen's (a confectionery company owned by Nestlé) and Nestlé, Oak has also offered the following limited edition flavoured milks:^[8]

• Allen's Jaffas^[9] (launched October 2019 – no longer available)
• Allen's Red Skins^[10] (launched October 2019
• Allen's Chokito^[11] (launched October 2019
• Allen's Pineapples^[12] (launched April 2020)
• Nestle Peppermint Crisp^[13] (launched April 2020)
• Allen's Fantales^[14] (launched April 2020)

Oak limited edition flavours no longer available:

• Cookies & Cream^[15] (launched September 2015)
• Strong Iced Coffee^[16] (launched March 2016)
• Mocha^[17] (launched October 2018)
• Cinnamon Donut^[18] (launched August 2019, exclusive to Woolworths)

In collaboration with 7-Eleven, Oak had released the following limited edition flavours exclusively for their stores:

• Mocha^[19] (launched March 2015, re-released as non-exclusive in October 2018)
• Choc Peanut Butter^[20] (launched July 2015)
• Caramel Coffee^[21] (launched June 2016)
• Choc Malt^[22] (launched April 2017)
• Blue Heaven^[23] (launched October 2017)
• Lime Spider^[24] (launched March 2018)
• Caramel Popcorn^[25] (launched September 2018)
• Rocky Road^[26] (launched March 2019)
• Cola Spider^[27] (launched October 2019)

Oak also mocked up packaging for, but never produced, the following flavours:

• Vegan Carob^[28] (part of an advertising campaign that mocked vegan foods)^[29]
• Choc Hazelnut^[30] (proposed new 7-Eleven exclusive flavour that lost in selection competition to Blue Heaven flavour)
• Vanilla Crumble^[31] (proposed new 7-Eleven exclusive flavour that lost in selection competition to Blue Heaven flavour)

Oak has also been sold in frozen chocolate soft serve form (since January 2017) in limited locations seasonally.^[32] Oak also is available in UHT long life format, in strawberry and chocolate flavours.

In 2013, Oak released 'The Max' range, beginning with Cool Choc Mint in May 2013,^[33] Molten Caramel in October 2013^[34] (Oak's first shake to thicken drink), and the limited edition Chilly Choc Chilli in March 2015.^[35][36] In November 2017, the Oak Thick range was also released, that thickens after shaking to give a thick-shake like mouthfeel. It launched in Death by Chocolate,^[37] Vanilla Killa,^[38] Choc Mint^[39] and Salted Caramel^[40] flavours, at Woolworths. A similar product, Oak mini shake, that contains less sugar and that is sold in 250ml was released in October 2019 in chocolate and strawberry flavours.^[41]

In April 2017, Oak launched Oak Plus, a sports recovery flavoured milk drink, with added protein.^[42] It is available in vanilla,^[43] chocolate,^[44] banana & honey^[45] flavours.

The Oak brand has also stretched across a range of dairy foods in the past, such as ice cream, cottage cheese, butter, custard, cream and frozen yoghurt.

Nutrition

The nutritional values vary by flavour, however chocolate, strawberry, banana, vanilla malt, iced coffee are similar. The Oak Max and Light Chocolate contain approximately 25% fewer calories and approximately half the fat of chocolate milk. In contrast, Egg Nog has approximately 25% more energy and 50% more fat than chocolate milk, and Oak Plus, which was launched in early 2017, contains around 30g more protein. The values for chocolate milk are:^{[citation needed]}

Chocolate Milk	Per 300ml Serve	Per 100ml
Energy	1128kJ	376kJ
Protein	9.9g	3.5g
Fat	10.8g	3.4g
– Saturated	6.6g	2.2g
Carbohydrate	33.0g	11.0g
– Sugars	31.8g	10.6g
Sodium	150 mg	50 mg
Calcium (%RDI*)	345 mg (43%RDI*)	115 mg

Ownership

Since 2019, the Oak brand has been wholly owned by Lactalis – a multinational French dairy and food corporation. Lactalis acquired Parmalat in stages between 2011 and 2019, who in turn had acquired the Oak brand from Dairy Farmers in July 2009, six months after Dairy Farmers was bought by National Foods.^[46]

Sponsorship

Oak was naming rights sponsor of National Rugby League team, the Penrith Panthers from 2012 until 2023.^[47][48]

Oak have previously been sponsors of the Newcastle Jets, the Newcastle Knights, the Melbourne Stars and the Port Adelaide Football Club.^[49][50][51]

Oak Milk Bars

Several Oak-branded milk bars have operated in the Hunter Valley in the past, in locations such as Newcastle, Hexham and Peats Ridge^[52] and Freemans Waterhole. Many of the milk bars were mapped out down the main route north from Sydney. There were also stores at Jesmond, Greenhills, Liverpool and Chatswood

The Oak Milk Bar at Freemans Waterhole still operates as a milk bar.^[53] An Oak Milk Bar opened in Rutherford in September 2020.^[54]

External links

Oak on Facebook  

References

1. "The Hunter Valley Co-operative Dairy Co. Ltd". The Muswellbrook Chronicle. 25 March 1947. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
2. Thompson, Brad (2 July 2014). "Parmalat milks local supplies to grow Oak". The West Australian. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
3. "OAK launches in Western Australia". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
4. "OAK" (PDF). The Australian Effie Awards. 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
5. "OAK Iced Coffee". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
6. "OAK Egg Nog". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
7. "OAK Gold". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
8. "Oak flavoured milk launches lolly range with Allen's and Nestle". Perth Now. Perth. 29 April 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
9. "OAK Allen's Jaffas". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
10. "OAK Allen's Red Skins". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
11. "OAK Allen's Chokito". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
12. "OAK Allen's Pineapples". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
13. "OAK Nestle Peppermint Crisp". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
14. "OAK Allen's Fantales". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
15. "OAK Cookies & Cream". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
16. "OAK Strong Iced Coffee". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
17. "OAK Mocha". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
18. "OAK Cinnamon Donut". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
19. "OAK Mocha". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
20. "OAK Choc Peanut Butter". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
21. "OAK Caramel Coffee". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
22. "OAK Choc Malt". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
23. "OAK Blue Heaven". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
24. "OAK Lime Spider". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
25. "OAK Caramel Popcorn". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
26. "OAK Rocky Road". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
27. "OAK Cola Spider". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
28. "OAK Vegan Carob". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
29. "Oak milk ad calling vegan sausages 'pathetic' upsets Aussie vegans". News.com.au. Sydney. 8 September 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
30. "OAK Choc Hazelnut". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
31. "OAK Vanilla Crumble". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
32. "Frozen OAK Chocolate". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
33. "OAK THE MAX Cool Choc Mint". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
34. "OAK THE MAX Molten Caramel". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
35. "OAK THE MAX Chilly Choc Chili". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
36. "OAK THE MAX Range" (PDF). Lactalis Australia Pty Ltd. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
37. "OAK Thick Death by Chocolate". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
38. "OAK Thick Vanilla Killa". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
39. "OAK Thick Choc Mint". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
40. "OAK Salted Caramel". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
41. "OAK mini shake". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
42. "OAK Plus: the drink that makes going to the gym worth it – delicious.com.au". Delicious.com.au. 27 April 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
43. "OAK Plus Vanilla". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
44. "OAK Plus Chocolate". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
45. "OAK Plus Banana & Honey". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
46. "Parmalat completes purchase of Nat Foods assets | Australian Food News". Ausfoodnews.com.au. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
47. "Penrith Panthers extend with shirt sponsor Oak". SportBusiness. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
48. Western Weekender 29 June 2023
49. "Port Adelaide thanks Lactalis Australia for their outstanding support since 2015". Port Adelaide Football Club. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
50. "OAK Plus to power Melbourne Stars as official hydration partner". Melbourne Stars. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
51. "OAK join Jets and Knights". Newcastle Jets. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
52. "Peats Ridge". Mangrove Mountain. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
53. "OAK Milk Bar Freemans Waterhole". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
54. "OAK Dairy Bar". Facebook. Retrieved 4 December 2020.