Tech Exec Parades Handwritten Sign Promoting Her Oat Milk Ice Cream Parlour Due To ‘Zero Marketing Budget’

A side hustle for the young couple

They’re lactose-intolerant

Why did they decide to go into F&B? “Since before I got into tech, it was already something that I’ve always wanted to do. So over the years, I would always check how much money I’ve saved up to be able to start something,” Jan says. The couple pumped in less than $80K to open their shop, including around $10K for a second-hand Italian ice cream machine. 

Kelvin tells us they decided to sell dairy-free ice cream because: “We’re both lactose intolerant and it’s been quite difficult for us to find good dairy-free ice cream. I mean there are some options out there (ed's note: vegan ice cream chain Kind Kones is an example), but they’re mostly in the realm of sorbets, and sorbet flavours are quite one dimensional. Moreover, the options aren’t great”. 

Oat milk vs regular ice cream 

Jan makes all the ice cream at Oat & About. She tells us she spent roughly a year perfecting her recipe, which she tweaked from online recipes and cookbooks. 

Compared to making regular ice cream, she says oat milk ice cream is trickier. “Oat milk itself doesn’t have two components that are very important for making ice cream – fat and protein. Milk naturally has it, but both of these components are lacking [in oat milk], so we have to find other components to make up for it, without having them interfere with the flavour,” Jan explains. To make up for the lack of protein and fat, she often adds ingredients like pistachio, hazelnut or peanut butter. 

Though oat milk is often advertised as a healthier alternative, some people have raised concerns about it containing added oils like canola and sunflower oil. To this, Jan says: “That’s a good point, but I don’t think we’re trying to say that we’re offering the healthiest ice cream. However, we‘re trying to offer an inclusive option. There are people with different types of allergies, like nut and dairy allergies, so we’re trying to offer an alternative”. 

After months of trial and error, the self-taught ice cream maker decided on using Noomoo brand oat milk from Singapore. “What’s good about [Noomoo] is that it doesn’t have a strong, overpowering oaty taste, which some other brands might have, though those might be more suitable for drinking. For this brand, what we like is that it’s lighter on the palate, so it doesn’t overshadow the [flavour of the] fruit and nuts in our ice cream,” she says. 

Jan spends about 12 hours making each batch of ice cream (she makes three flavours at once). She usually does this after hours, or during weekends at least twice a week. 

The menu 

Oat & About offers 12 ice cream flavours, with three flavours – Matcha, Hojicha and Genmaicha – on rotation. Other flavours include: Golden Gianduja, Intense Chocolate, Roasted Pistachio Medley, Rizz’s Peanut Butter Cups, Kurogoma (black sesame), Emperor’s New Tea (black tea ice cream with lychee), Passionate Cacao, Carrot Cake Cravings (limited edition for X’mas), Strawberry Summer, and Girl Scout Mint Cookies. 

Oriental Beauty, $5.50 (8 Days Pick!)

This chrysanthemum ice cream sprinkled with bits of goji berries is one of their best-sellers. We enjoyed the floral aroma of the mildly sweet chrysanthemum here, which paired well with the crunchy, slightly bittersweet goji berries. The ice cream itself was smooth, creamy with a milky aftertaste that didn’t taste distinctively of oat milk. In fact, we’d probably think this is regular ice cream if no one told us anything.

To give her ice cream a rich texture that oat milk typically doesn’t have, Jan says she adds non-dairy protein (she declines to reveal the specifics) and plant-based fibres to give her ice cream a creamy mouthfeel. 

Carrot Cake Cravings, $6.50 for seasonal flavour (8 Days Pick!)

Of all her ice cream flavours, Jan says this is one of the hardest to make. The carrot cake ice cream has multiple elements to it – first, Jan whips up a caramelised carrot puree that she roasts with sugar, then she has to bake the carrot cake itself, which she double-bakes for extra chewiness. She mixes both of these into the oat milk base.

The complexity of the ice cream is apparent – the dessert is thick, creamy, and each mouthful tastes like we’re quite literally biting into an iced, milky version of carrot cake. Small bits of chewy cake are studded in a carroty ice cream base blended with the sweet veg puree. There’s also a hint of cinnamon and sea salt. Yummy.

Strawberry Summer and Intense Chocolate double scoop, $10

Jan recommended this pairing. The strawberry ice cream, made with fresh strawberries from Belgium, was equal parts sweet and tangy, and quite refreshing. Compared to the carrot cake ice cream, this one is icier in texture. 

Meanwhile, the Intense Choc was indeed intense and chocolatey – made with couverture chocolate and cocoa powder, it’s luxuriously rich and indulgent, with an adequate hit of bittersweetness.

Future plans

Though they’ve only been open for a few months, Kelvin says business has been pretty good. “[Business is] not too bad. We don’t really see something similar in the market, so for sure there’s a novelty factor at the moment, and based on the feedback we’ve gotten from customers, people seem to enjoy it. When we ask how they found out about us, they’ll say it’s either from our content, or that they were genuinely curious to try oat milk ice cream,” he shares. 

Currently, he says most of their customers are locals – either people who are lactose intolerant like them, or just curious passers-by wanting to try something different – while about 20 percent are tourists in the area. 

As of now, they don’t have any plans for expansion yet. “For now, we are looking to do events, pop ups, etcetera, so that more people can get to try our ice cream. In future, we’re not sure [if we’ll open more stalls] yet, let’s see!”, Jan says. 

Oat & About is at #01-04 33 Erskine Rd, S069333. Open Mon - Thu 12.30pm - 9pm, Fri - Sun 12.30pm - 10pm. Tel: 8921 2866. More info via their website & Instagram. 

Photos: Kelvin Chia

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