Leading food ingredients supplier of what matter
Our cocoa, coffee, dairy, nut and spice ingredients are heaped with sensory and functional features – while we’re also able to offer product that is traceable, sustainable and transparent. As food ingredients company you can develop winning consumer products in bakery, beverages, dairy, culinary, savory, snacking and sports nutrition categories with ease, scale and integrity.
Cocoa
We’re a super specialist in all things cocoa – beans, powders, butters and beyond. In fact, we are the number one cocoa bean supplier globally with a leading presence in 10 key producing countries across Africa, Asia and South America. In our direct sourcing, our traceability from the farm to the factory allows us to drive sustainable practises across the cocoa supply chain.
Find out more about our cocoa ingredients offer.
Coffee
A leading global supplier of green coffee, with a significant specialty and soluble coffee offer, ensures we’re buzzing with know-how. Our year-round presence in 18 major origins means we can offer you the responsible, traceable supply consumers want – and the rare roasts you need to differentiate your brand.
Find out more about our coffee ingredients offer.
Dairy
Packed with natural goodness, fewer food groups bring more joy to people’s lives. It’s there in a cup of tea, slice of cheese, or spoonful of cream. Whether it’s a specific beverage blend or an exacting protein isolate or concentrate, we can help you deliver the tastes, textures and nutrition people love.
Find out more about our dairy ingredients offer.
Nuts
We’re one of the world’s leading suppliers with integrated supply chains across six continents. Almonds to brazils, macadamias to pistachios – just name your nut. The natural and nutritional goodness makes them top of the list for consumers.
Find out more about our nuts ingredients offer.
Spices
We’re one of the world largest global suppliers of spices and herbs, sourcing from all the primary growing regions and offering everything from onion, garlic and chiles to pepper, parsley and tropical spices. Provenance, taste, quality, color and texture. There is not a lot we don’t know about spices and the important role their attributes play in our favourite foods.
Find out more about our spices ingredients offer.
Partnering at every step from raw materials to value added ingredients
This is how ofi as food ingredients wholesale delivers value to customers. We co-create to delight consumers, grow your business, and create real change for people and planet. We make this happen by offering fresh ideas, ingredients & solutions that are…
Our journey so far
We are privileged to carry with us the 30-year legacy and rich heritage of Olam, and that DNA of ambition and growth will continue to drive us in the future as a food ingredients company.
Where it started
Olam International began back in 1989 by exporting raw cashews from Nigeria to India. Then came cocoa in 1992, followed by coffee in 1996, spices in 2002, and dairy in 2005. Olam continued to grow, investing in the breadth and depth of its portfolio and establishing global leaders for each business.
Greater customer focus
In January 2020, Olam reorganized into three groups: Olam Group and two operating groups: Olam Agri and olam food ingredients (ofi). ofi operates in 49 countries serving over 8,000 valued customers globally, leveraging its complementary and differentiated portfolio of ‘on-trend’ food products, to co-create solutions that meet changing consumer preferences.
Innovating everywhere
Sourcing nuts, cocoa beans, coffee spices and dairy ingredients at scale is just the start. Our focus is on innovating in all areas of supply chains and taking care of our ingredients from plant to palate. Whether it’s introducing digital tech to improve traceability and reliability of supply, or helping spot trends and responding to them with new plant-based tastes and textures.
Making a positive impact
Sustainability’s been a big part of Olam’s identity since the start, supporting both the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations Development Program. Much of this has been driven through award-winning farmer livelihood support programs. In 2018, this commitment was taken further with AtSource, the revolutionary sustainability insights platform.
Read ofi news
ofi Employee Spotlight: Horacio Bueno and Shannon Arballo, North America
Intro: Internships are often a rewarding and eye-opening experience for new grads. They offer real-life opportunities for you to find out what you would enjoy spending your career doing, outside of just reading about it in a textbook.
Sometimes it shows you maybe the career path you’ve been considering isn’t for you. Luckily that was not the case for two interns at ofi, Shannon Arballo and Horacio Bueno.
Your full name: Shannon Arballo
Your city and state: Fresno, CA
Your job title: Food Scientist
Your functional area (i.e. Finance): Innovation
Q: How long have you been at ofi? (years): 4 years
Your full name: Horacio Bueno
Your city and state: Fresno, CA
Your job title: HRIS Manager
Your functional area (i.e. Finance): HRc
Q: How long have you been at ofi? (years): 6 years
ofi's Carbon Scenario Planner wins prestigious Food Ingredients Europe Award
ofi’s Carbon Scenario Planner (CSP), a new digital tool developed to help food and beverage manufacturers model the impact of different scenarios for reducing greenhouse gas emissions has won the 2023 Sustainability Innovation Award at Food Ingredients Europe in Frankfurt. This is the second year in a row that ofi has been awarded this prestigious recognition, following last year’s award for its Cocoa COMPASS sustainability strategy.
The CSP allows ofi to model the outcome of different decarbonization interventions tailored to local contexts, so it can work with its customers to plan and cost out climate actions. It helps ofi's customers tackle the complex and challenging issue of Scope 3 emissions which occur in a company’s value chain and make up the bulk of the food and beverage industry’s carbon footprint.
Dr Christopher Stewart, Global Head of Sustainability at ofi, said: “We're delighted that Food Ingredients Europe has chosen to recognize the progress we’ve made. For our customers, knowing where carbon emissions are coming from in their supply chains is critical to understanding how to reduce them cost-effectively, and meet science-based climate targets. The Carbon Scenario Planner translates ideas into detailed, robustly modelled scenarios that can deliver long-term greenhouse gas reductions.”
The tool is embedded into ofi’s sustainability management system AtSource, which provides customers with data and insights for use in reporting their environmental, social, and economic impacts. ofi recently used the tool with a global coffee company to whom it supplies Guatemalan coffee beans. It modelled a 32% carbon reduction scenario to help support the customer’s climate commitments, identifying three impactful scenarios: using training for farmers to help them upcycle coffee waste, replacing chemical fertilizer with organic, and providing farmers with semi-mechanized tools to improve yields.
Cultivating the next generation of process engineers
For over a decade, ofi has developed the next generation of process engineers and technical excellence in the Netherlands in partnership with Food & Process Tech Campus of Regio College in Zaandam. Tijmen Hoeve, ofi's Training Coordinator, shares three reasons why we invest in internships and how they add value to our operations and the wider society:
Developing in-demand skills
It all started with a skills gap in the industry. In the Netherlands, we have a shortage of technical skilled occupations such as engineers, ICT, and technicians, and the Covid pandemic hasn't helped the situation either. European Commission reported that in 2022, there is still a shortage of engineers. And to highlight the labor issues on the continent, it announced 2023 as the European Year of Skills.
This challenge also requires long-term support and investment to make a difference. The internship ofi offers, which has been running since 2012, is connected to the Food & Process Tech Campus program. The four-year course, aimed at 17-21year olds, gives students a mix of theory and practical experiences in a real-life setting. Over four years, students can apply their technical understanding in our facilities in Koog aan de Zaan or Wormer.
Investing in the future
Equipping students with the right skills to enter the workforce is a way to help future-proof the industry. Since 2012, ofi has given 5,000 euros annually to the college, which has helped to fund its practical room and the necessary safety equipment and contributed towards the teacher's salary. In some cases, we've even employed some students who have come through the program. It's a great way to develop talent that deeply understands your business.
Giving back to the community
I started my career in the food industry, working in various roles in food engineering. After 12 years of food tech, I channeled my passion into training the next generation of process engineers. Teaching is in my blood. My grandfather was a headmaster, and my father was a teacher, as is my brother, so I felt like a natural next step in my career.
When I moved into education, I helped develop the curriculum for the Food & Process Tech Campus course and have previously worked at the college itself, so I have a strong understanding of what the students need to be successful in the course and to transition into the industry. I'm proud we support a local college, within walking distance of our facility in Koog aan de Zaan. Hear from Zlatan what it's like to be an intern at ofi.
Hungry for more? Let’s talk.
We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch today.
