The legendary South London icon Giggs has announced an unexpected new venture: Custard by Giggs.
In collaboration with Oatly – the Swedish brand behind the original oat drink – Hollowman is launching limited-edition, dairy-free cake and custard kits featuring Oatly Vanilla Custard and custom tableware. The rapper, who is lactose intolerant, approached Oatly about working together after he struggled to find their Vanilla Custard – a personal favourite of his – in any of his local supermarkets.
What started as a DM on Instagram quickly developed into a full partnership to raise greater awareness of lactose intolerance (which affects over five million people in the UK and disproportionately those in Black, Asian, and ethnic minorities), and the limited dairy-free food options available. Through this unexpected collaboration, the rapper hopes to inspire greater choice of dairy-free options on menus and in supermarket shelves around the country. It’s an issue close to the rapper’s heart after having to forgo his favourite cake and custard treat as a child, and after now seeing his own son suffer with lactose intolerance as well.
“I grew up on cake and custard, but when my lactose intolerance kicked in when I was around 8 years old and started making me sick, the dessert I loved had to leave my life”. said Giggs. “When I found out my son was lactose intolerant too, we used to go all over the place looking for dairy-free alternatives so he wouldn’t miss out. There’s not a lot of options out there, but one day we found Oatly’s Vanilla Custard, and it tasted banging. Not enough people know about it, so I reached out to Oatly, and here we are a few months later…”
However, despite the category being projected to nearly double by 2029, only a select number of retailers in the UK choose to stock Oatly Vanilla Custard. “I even sent my Mum on quests trying to hunt it down!” Giggs added.
Bryan Carroll, General Manager at Oatly UK&I said, “When Giggs messaged us at the start of the year expressing his love for our Vanilla Custard, we didn’t quite believe it was actually him. However, after our very first meeting, we knew this would lead to great things. Together we are determined to give people choice beyond dairy – for anyone who has to or is opting to remove it from their diet. With more than 5 million people suffering some form of lactose intolerance, it’s actually mad that the default is still so often dairy and nothing else. This collaboration aims to encourage retailers to think outside the dairy box – there’s a whole big dairy-free world out there…and it’s delicious.”
Giggs will be dishing out the limited edition kits tomorrow November 20th from 1pm at Ayres Bakery in Nunhead, near Giggs’ hometown of Peckham, with a few select kits also available on Oatly.com/Giggs. The collaboration will also launch a series of short films featuring Giggs and directed by Kelvin Jones.
Additionally, Oatly is introducing a “Custard Finder” tool, allowing customers to locate nearby stores stocking Oatly Vanilla Custard.
More details on the campaign can be found here and Oatly’s Custard Finder is available to view here.