Expo West 2018 Video: Lifeway’s Smolyansky on Challenging Consumers

In the years since Julie Smolyansky took over her family’s business as CEO of Lifeway, one of the country’s largest kefir brands, the company has expanded its presence in the dairy case and beyond.

Now producing lines of elixirs, farmer’s cheese, and skyr, the company has become a gut health minded maker of probiotic foods and drinks. At Natural Products Expo West 2018 the company also revealed its first entry into the dairy alternative category with Plantiful, a line of plant-based probiotic beverages.

Smolyansky sat down with BevNET during Expo West to discuss Lifeway’s evolving probiotic product portfolio, learning from consumer feedback, and how the company is always innovating and always thinking ahead.

“Consumers really want something new, something dynamic, they want to be challenged,” she said. “Today especially, they are really open minded to try something new.”