Daus shifted from cheesemaking to supplying Brazil’s national food-service chains
The company began in Ouroana, a district of Rio Verde, where milk production already played an important part in the local and regional economy. Cheese was initially among its principal products. According to the company’s chronology, Ourolac began redirecting its strategy in 2006, moving from a focus on cheese sales towards developing products for food businesses. It entered the dairy-drinks market in 2008. During this transition, the manufacturer developed a liquid base suitable for soft-serve ice cream, milkshakes and other desserts. These applications brought the business into food service and into the supply chains of companies operating across Brazil.
Ourolac underwent court-supervised restructuring in 2008, a period that also marked a substantial change in its business strategy. It concentrated on ice-cream bases, dairy drinks and products designed for food-service customers. Ready-to-use and easy-to-prepare ingredients became part of its offering to restaurants, fast-food operators, ice-cream shops, bakeries and confectioners. Cheese production ended during the transition that began in 2008–09. The product range subsequently widened: culinary cream entered production in 2013, followed in 2016 by bag-in-box packaging, which holds the product in a pouch inside a box. The company modernised its manufacturing facilities and packaging in 2019 and entered the whipping-cream market in 2020.
Reporting published during the company’s 2021 rebranding identified Oggi Sorvetes and Cacau Show among its customers, alongside the fast-food chains. At that time, Ourolac was also described as supplying bases for ice-cream cones and dairy drinks sold by fast-food businesses. Its ingredients therefore reached consumers through other companies’ products, including those on which the Ourolac name was not prominently displayed. Daus now describes itself as “the brand behind the big brands”. Its current portfolio includes multipurpose dairy drinks, ice-cream bases, culinary cream, whipping cream, cream and a three-milk dessert sauce. Some of these products serve businesses seeking consistent preparation, speed, stability and yield in larger-scale operations.
The change of name to Daus was announced in 2021 as part of a broader repositioning beyond the company’s association with milk processing. Information released at the time described the Ourolac name as closely tied to dairy products, although cheese manufacturing had already ceased. The rebranding covered packaging, visual identity and commercial positioning as well as the name. According to the explanation accompanying the change, the letters “Au”, the chemical symbol for gold, retained a reference to Ouroana and the former Ourolac identity. The industrial headquarters remained in Ouroana, where the business had begun more than two decades earlier.
During its expansion, the company said it had invested 60 million reais in the Ouroana plant over the three years preceding 2021. In 2021 it also announced a further allocation of 20 million reais to acquire and modernise a second facility in Goiaporã, a district of Amorinópolis. Together, those investments amounted to 80 million reais in industrial assets. The additional facility was intended to diversify manufacturing into products including milk powder, whey powder, supplements and condensed milk, while giving the supply chain greater flexibility. The company recorded revenue of 194.54 million reais in 2020 and projected revenue of 441 million reais for 2021.
Daus also established a division for functional products, isotonic drinks, powdered supplements and enteral nutrition. The initiative formed part of its strategy to reduce reliance on a single product and a single sales channel, a vulnerability that had become more apparent during the pandemic. Its wider food-service business supplied establishments preparing food for direct sale to consumers, while its industrial ingredients were incorporated into products sold under customers’ brands. The company developed its national distribution network from its base in Ouroana, serving customers in different regions of Brazil.
International sales were also part of the expansion. In 2021, Daus said it was already exporting to Uruguay, Paraguay and Peru and was seeking authorisations to enter additional markets in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. Its current corporate website describes operations both within Brazil and abroad. The company’s products serve ice-cream shops, confectionery businesses, restaurants and fast-food chains.
