Vegetable Smoothies, the Catalan face of the oat milk boom
The Viladrau-based company closed 2025 with €95M in revenue, of which €36M was under the Yosoy brand.
ViladrauFor several years now, Liquats Vegetals has been the face of the rise of plant-based milks in the Catalan agri-food industry. Founded in 1991 and located in the heart of Montseny, the company has been the leader in the production of oat, soy, and rice beverages in the Spanish market for almost four years, thanks in large part to its own brand, Yosoy. The company was founded by engineer Josep Maria Erra with the aim of "providing real nutrition," explains his daughter and current CEO, Laura Erra. The founder had worked in the dairy sector and decided to start a business to make plant-based milk, a segment of the beverage market that was still in its infancy in Spain 35 years ago. Furthermore, the goal was to produce products with as few additives and added sugars as possible: "With a logical work philosophy about how we should eat and nourish ourselves," says the group's director.
The consumption of plant-based milk, however, has been growing over the years, and today ordering a cortado with oat or soy milk is no longer an eccentricity, to the point that these products are an essential item in many Catalan refrigerators, both at home and in restaurants. However, the ability to sell these products with the added benefit of being made without additives is precisely what sets Liquats Vegetals apart. Initially, Liquats Vegetals only produced products for other companies and didn't have its own brand, but despite this, they tried to make the drinks as healthy and natural as possible, often without success: "We made the drinks without additives, and some customers asked us to add them," recalls Erra.
In the case of Yosoy, the company's brand motto is that it has no additives, while for clients they do prepare the drinks according to the recipe they request, most often with added ingredients. "The purpose was to improve the food industry," says Olivia Santana, marketing manager in Spain, Yosoy. "Other brands add gums, sterilants, or regulators, but we don't. We believe in using very high-quality ingredients," he adds. In this regard, the company tries to prioritize suppliers as close as possible.
The main ingredient in plant-based drinks is water, which explains their location in Viladrau (Osona), in an area of the country known for the quality of its springs. Two of the leading bottled mineral water brands in Catalonia—Font Vella, from the Danone group, and Viladrau, from Nestlé—come from this town and Sant Hilari Sacalm, about twenty kilometers away. The company's facilities consist of the production plant, a bottling plant, a laboratory where new products are developed, and a quality control center, as well as a special warehouse for maintaining this type of product, which regulates the amount of oxygen inside.
Brand diversification
Liquats Vegetals has grown in recent years in parallel with Yosoy. In 2004, the company opted to launch its own brand, Yosoy, while still maintaining production for third parties. In fact, the market is currently still dominated by supermarket chain private labels, which together account for approximately half of the business, and many of these are Liquats Vegetals clients. The plant-based beverage sector in Spain is worth around €411 million, according to last year's figures, but it maintains very high growth rates, exceeding 4% annually. According to data from independent consulting firms provided by the company, approximately eight million Spanish households regularly purchase plant-based milks—figures far removed from cow's milk, present in 98% of households, but unthinkable just a few years ago. Oat milk and almond milk are the flagship products, although Liquats Vegetals also produces rice, almond, and walnut milk, among others, in various options, such as flavored or gluten-free versions. According to company data, Yosoy is the leading brand in Spain in the oat milk sector, where it holds a 21% market share, as well as in the rice milk sector and in products marketed as "Barista" products, which are geared towards professionals in the restaurant and catering industry. Specifically, the Horeca channel. The hospitality, restaurant, and catering sectors are where the company sees the most room for continued growth. In the sector as a whole, beyond supermarket private labels, Yosoy maintains its leading market share, ahead of Alpro, Danone's brand, and Vivesoy, from the Spanish Pascual group. Furthermore, Santana proudly points out that Yosoy is the only company that produces a "100% plant-based" product, as the other companies started in the dairy sector and later incorporated plant-based milks. With this, the Yosoy brand sold €36.8 million in 2025, a 9% increase compared to the previous year, achieving a 13% market share—its highest figures since arriving on supermarket shelves. Of this revenue, 22% came from exports, with the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, and Belgium as the main destinations.
As for the company as a whole, revenue also grew by 2% compared to 2014, closing last year with €95 million in sales. This includes the aforementioned Yosoy brand, the group's other brands – Natrue, Almendrola, and Monsoy – and processed products.
Despite operating both abroad and throughout Spain, being a Viladrau-based company means that the Catalan market is currently Yosoy's main driver, followed by Valencia and the Basque Country. The company aims to grow in Madrid, but at the same time is aware that Catalonia has the highest per capita consumption of plant-based milks of any autonomous community. "Catalonia is where plant-based milk was introduced from Europe," Santana points out.
