Lifeway Foods is an

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

based health food company founded in 1986. They are a leading U.S. supplier of

kefir Kefir ( ; also spelled as kephir or kefier; ; ; ) is a fermented milk drink similar to a thin yogurt or ayran that is made from kefir grains, a specific type of mesophilic symbiotic culture. The drink originated in the North Caucasus, in p ...

and fermented probiotic products to support the microbiome.

History

Lifeway Foods was founded by Michael Smolyansky, a

Ukrainian Jewish The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jewish communities have existed in the territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Some of the most important Jewish religious and ...

immigrant who arrived in the United States from

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, in 1976. During a trip to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, Michael and his wife, Ludmila Smolyansky, realized the kefir sold at a tradeshow was not sold in the United States and decided to start producing it. The company went public and debuted on the NASDAQ exchange in 1988. They opened their first plant in Skokie, Illinois, a year later. The company began to grow by expanding its product lines and increasing its distribution. After Michael's death in 2002, his daughter, Julie Smolyansky, took over and became the youngest female CEO of a publicly held firm at the age of 27. Since that time, Julie has grown Lifeway’s annual revenues from $12 million in 2002, to over $119 million in 2021. Now, Lifeway estimates it occupies 95 percent of the U.S. market in kefir, which the company has helped turn from a niche health-food product to a formidable player in the surging global market for yogurt and other cultured-milk products.

Products

Lifeway's flagship product is

. Lifeway sells it in several varieties, including low-fat, non-fat, Greek, organic, and low-carb varieties, as well as these in several different flavors. The company also produces

farmer cheese In the United States, farmer cheese (also farmer's cheese or farmers' cheese) is pressed curds, an unripened cheese made by adding rennet and bacterial starter to coagulate and acidify milk. Farmer cheese may be made from the milk of cows, sh ...

resembling Eastern-European style

tvorog Tvorog (russian: творог) is a Russian white cheese. Творог, Творо́г, or тво́рог, is a non-liquid white fermented milk product, traditional for Eastern, Northern and (less often) Central Europe, obtained by fermenting mi ...

and Lifeway Oat, a

probiotic Probiotics are live microorganisms promoted with claims that they provide health benefits when consumed, generally by improving or restoring the gut microbiota. Probiotics are considered generally safe to consume, but may cause bacteria- host ...

Oat milk Oat milk is a plant milk derived from whole oat (''Avena spp.'') grains by extracting the plant material with water. Oat milk has a creamy texture and mild oatmeal-like flavor, and is manufactured in various flavors, such as sweetened, unsweetene ...

designed to support the gut. File:LifewayKefir.jpg, ''Krestiansky'' kefir File:FarmersCheese 2114.jpg, Farmer cheese

References

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External links

Lifeway Foods

Lifeway Kefir
Companies based in Cook County, Illinois Fermented dairy products Food and drink companies of the United States