Looking to bring consumers back into the arms of dairy, New York-based Maple Hill Creamery debuted Zero Sugar Organic Ultra-Filtered Milk, the first product in a new platform of sugar free dairy made without sweeteners or additives.
What is the product?
The new milks are available in Whole and Reduced Fat varieties and retail for $5.99 per 1.7 liter cartons. The Whole Milk contains 8 grams of protein and 110 calories while the Reduced Fat variety includes 8 grams of protein and 80 calories. The drinks are currently available in Whole Foods stores nationwide and will expand to other major retailers this summer.
According to CEO Carl Gerlach, Maple Hill began working on the Zero Sugar line in 2019, following consistent feedback from consumers that they were drinking less milk due to the sugar content. An average 8 oz. serving of cow’s milk can contain about 12 grams of sugar and many consumers, he noted, are looking to “take sugar out wherever they can find it” but still make exceptions for milk.
What’s driving the innovation?
The decline of dairy milk has been an ongoing story, but indications are that the segment will only get tougher in the years ahead; according to data from the Plant Based Foods Association and The Good Food Institute, plant-based milk grew at twice the rate of cow’s milk in 2020, and now represents 15% share of total milk sales (45% in the natural channel alone).
In a fight to curb those losses, dairy milk brands have been actively working to develop solutions to consumers’ concerns around the category. Around 2018, New Zealand-based brand The a2 Milk Company expanded its presence in U.S. retailers with a dairy product that removes a protein commonly associated with digestive issues. Addressing the concerns of vegans, foodtech company Perfect Day has developed an animal-free, lab-grown dairy ingredient now rolling out to the market through ice cream brands like Brave Robot. The Coca-Cola Company’s fairlife brand has made ultra-filtration a selling point for its products and this year launched a new lactose-free brand, Good Moo’d, which promotes that it has 25% less sugar than competing lactose-free products.
But for sugar conscious consumers, particularly diabetics, options in dairy are limited. While there are many unsweetened plant-based alternatives on the market and ultra-filtered milk products contain less sugar than other dairy brands, sugar free dairy milk has been virtually nonexistent — a point that Maple Hill is leaning into as it announces its Zero Sugar line as the first in America.
Developing the product, Gerlach said, was not easy. Maple Hill removed the sugar from its milk through an ultra-filtration process while maintaining flavor and other beneficial nutrients.
“You don’t really miss the sugar, which is what’s kind of cool about it,” Gerlach said, “It’s great drinking as a beverage, it’s great with your cereal, it’s really good with coffee. And one of the things that makes it so compelling for us, and for our consumers, is a lot of the people left the category for non-dairy. This is the product that will allow them to come back into cow’s milk.”
How does zero sugar fit into Maple Hill’s growth strategy?
Until this point, Maple Hill’s primary point of differentiation has been its emphasis on organic dairy products made from 100% grass fed cows. But the debut of the Zero Sugar line builds on the momentum of a recent pivot to innovation, following the March launch of its Reduced Sugar Grass Fed Organic Chocolate Milk, which contains 16 grams of sugar per serving. The company has also previously introduced low and no sugar added yogurts and kefirs, as well as a grass fed organic butter.
But more than previous product launches, Gerlach called Zero Sugar an “innovation platform” that Maple Hill will build off of. In addition to other pack sizes and formats, the Zero Sugar line will extend into other product categories as well.
“We are committed to bringing zero sugar dairy to as many categories as we can,” he said. “What we know is that our consumers are looking for great tasting products that have no sugar, and our responsibility and our commitment is to bring out more products over time.”