About Us

MADE BY BARISTAS.

When oat milk first hit New York in 2015, it was baristas who figured it out. They learned how to steam it, pour it, and ushered it into popularity. They built the culture around it and educated customers, making oat milk what it is today. Then they watched the industry take all of that knowledge and cut them out of the story entirely.

In December 2020, Michelle R. Johnson-Strickland—award-winning barista, coffee culture critic, and the first Black woman to compete at the United States Barista Championship—decided to flip it. Not to compete with what already existed, but to create something new: oat milk that was finally, intentionally made for the people who'd always deserved it most.

We come from hospitality. We know what it means to tend to someone and make them feel like they belong as soon as they walk into the door. Oat milk or otherwise, it's how we think about everything we do.

This is Ghost Town Oats: a founder-led and community-owned brand that's still behind the bar in spirit.

FOR EVERY BLOCK.

There's a version of the health food industry that treats premium food like it's a personality trait. Like caring about what you put in your body is something you have to earn access to. Ghost Town was built in direct response to that.

A lot of us have been shifting plant-based for years. Our bodies have been telling us to, and we know it. We deserve a product that was made with us in mind versus products that tolerate our presence as an afterthought. Representation isn't the same as belonging, and a brand that puts your face on a campaign while skipping over your block tells you everything you need to know about what matters most to them.

Coffee shops are home for us. That's where we know how to show up and where we learned what it means/how to connect with people as a daily practice. But our vision is bigger. Corner stores, bodegas, small neighborhood markets are all places that already know how to service a community. Ghost Town Oats belongs there too—and we're working on it.

WHAT WE STAND ON.

Hospitality. We come from behind the bar, and we bring that with us everywhere. Every product, partnership, and interaction are all rooted in the practice of making people feel genuinely welcome.

Approachability. Premium should've never become a personality trait. Ghost Town is the friendly face at the bar, not the velvet rope in front of it.

Quality. The corner store deserves what the flagship gets. We refuse to use "accessible" as an excuse to deliver anything less than the best.

Community. People with whole, abundant, and culturally-rich lives deserve to see themselves centered, not tolerated.