Over the Moo. Vegans Answer to Dairy-free Ice Cream

Answering the call for dairy-licious dessert, without the lactose and ethical guilt, is Over The Moo. Serving up coconut based ice cream in nine delicious flavours, this innovative team of legends are on every vegan, dairy-free convert and flavour seekers lips. We talk to the founder Alex Houseman about how it all started and where we can find the lovingly restored Ford Transit that’s dishing out the nice cream.

Q&A with Over The Moo

Tellus a bit about your brand. What inspired you to start Over The Moo?

I was at home watching Game of Thrones with mygirlfriend and it was a stressful time so she was digging into a tub of icecream. I’m lactose intolerant so I couldn’t have any and I realised, thereshould be an ice cream that’s rich, creamy, indulgent and comforting but thatalso doesn’t have any dairy.

Tellus about your business model and how your beloved Ford Transit fits in?

We started Over The Moo as a supermarket brand,selling 500mL pots through independent supermarkets and Woolworths nationally.This truck is basically an extension of our dream to bring dairy freedeliciousness to the people.

Whoare the people behind Over The Moo? How did they get involved?

Well it takes a village, obviously. I started thecompany myself and have gathered a team of legends to help me grow the businessover the last two years. There’s our Marketing Poohbah who’s an old friend fromuni, our Van Manager is a Brit on a sea change in Oz and our Money Man is an ex-corporate finance guy keen for a change of scenery.

Tellus about the range of flavors – how did you narrow it down to nine?

Well we started with a wish list of about 70, whichwe narrowed down to about 20 trial flavours that we tested out in our factory.Narrowing down to the nine we make now was a matter of figuring out whichflavours we could execute well. There’s always room for more though so we’ll beout with new flavours in 2017.

Whatis your signature flavour? Or biggest seller?

Typically it’s been our Vanilla Bean Missing You – classic vanilla with Madagascan vanillabeans. There’s nowhere to hide with a vanilla ice cream, so it’s the benchmark fora delicious product. Lately we’ve also seen a surge in popularity for our I Fell For Caramel – caramel ice creamwith a caramel sauce ripple and crunchy toffee balls. It’s a crowd favourite.

Whatseparates Over The Moo from other dairy free ice creams?

The taste and the texture. We want Over The Moo tobe basically indistinguishable from dairy ice cream, so there’s no massivecoconut-y flavour and no yucky soy aftertaste. Instead, you’ll find that we’recreamy, smooth and filled with delicious bits and bobs like toffee balls, chocchips and gooey sauces. It’s good enough to fool your Granny.

Where can fans head to get their ‘nice cream’ fix over the next few weeks? 

We’ll be hitting the O-Weeks in Sydney over the next week or so and then doing some Mardi Gras stuff. Best to sign up on our website to get the schedule right into your inbox.

How long has Over the Moo been available at Woollies and IGA? 

About two years ago I had the first batch of Over The Moo made and literally went door-to-door to local IGAs in my area trying to get it stocked. I pounded the pavement pretty hard and ended up expanding interstate. On the back of our success in IGAs, we were put up into a handful of Woolies last February and starting next month we’ll be in 500 stores. Yeah boy!

How did you break into the competitive supermarket market?

It all comes down to the yumminess of our product. We know that more and more Aussies are looking to cut out dairy which means there’s a growing demand. There are plenty of dairy free and vegan ice creams out there but most of them are trying to not be ice cream – they’re high protein or sugar free or organic. With Over The Moo we’ve developed an ice cream that tastes as indulgent as the dairy stuff and I think it’s hit a sweet spot (see what I did there?).

What can we expect to see from Over The Moo over the next 12 months?

We’ve got a lot of pots on the boil right now. We’ll be releasing new flavours, and looking to offer something in the way of mobile ice cream service in other capital cities. We’re also working on some brand-new products, so watch this space. Yiew!