Under the ice cream/sherbet category, ice milk/frozen dairy desserts and sherbet/sorbet/ices are all posting solid growth in both dollars (10% growth) and units (3% gain), IRI data reports. Nestlé saw sales increase a whopping 1,632% to $25 million; Blue Bunny, generated 78% YoY growth to $29 million; and Friendly’s grew its sales to $10 mllion, with a 34% YoY gain.
Learn more from TCCA CEO Patrick Criteser about the company's rich history (founded in 1909), its award-winning cheddar cheese, its new Certified B Corp status and a Visitor's Center that annually welcomes more than 1 million visitors to "the House that Cheddar Built."
Despite a 3.3% decrease of unit sales, the milk category demonstrated strong strength, notching an increase of more than 7% to $15.32 billion for the 52 weeks ending Sept. 4, IRI data reports. Milk is king of the dairy category leader, followed by Cheese and Yogurt.
Although the industry faces many challenges, there are exciting opportunities for future growth, according to the six dairy industry executives we queried.