Consumers have come to expect that food and beverage manufacturers use—as best as possible—sustainable sourcing and production practices. But most are not willing to pay for it.
Consumers also know they need to eat more plants. They’ve heard the message. But, they are not going to eat it if it does not deliver on taste.
“Sustainability is going to become cost of entry into market,” said Kara Weibeler, senior director of consumer insights at Chicago-based Simple Mills, a natural brand offering premium better-for-you crackers, cookies, snack bars and baking mixes. She spoke at a Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network Innovation Breakfast on May 1.
It’s all about meeting consumers where they are in their health and wellness journey. Ten years ago it was a lot different than where they are today. And this will likely look very different in 10 more years.
Janet Helm, a food and nutrition consultant based in Chicago, the former Chief Food and Nutrition Strategist for Weber Shandwick who helped turn milk from a commodity to a brand with the iconic got milk? and milk mustache campaigns, said that right here, right now, consumers are looking for “healthiesh” and “plant forward” options. It’s all about “tasting good, being good for you—and the planet—and not about deprivation.”
“Hybrids, if we had them 10 years ago, we’d be much further in,” said Susann Bellman, senior business development manager at NIZO, a global leader in food research with a focus on protein and fermentation innovation, when speaking at VitaFoods Europe 2025 in Barcelona about a month ago.
Nick Morgan, managing director of Nutrition Integrated, was on a panel with Bellman. He noted the evolution of the protein bar over the past two decades. “The shift of change is significant,” he said.
It will be the same for dairy soon. Bellman said that consumers want more protein—animal and plant—and they want to get it through familiar formats.
Morgan believes that the dairy case is the ideal retail department. “The dairy aisle is so well established,” he said. “And products come with a very accessible price point.”
Both panelists, along with another, Simon Jurkiw, a food industry growth consultant with Pop Scale Up agreed that there’s a lot of opportunity in hybrid protein desserts. Protein gives permission for consumers to indulge. In the U.S., this is a particularly key area to focus, as the refrigerated dessert sector is currently quite small; however, it has opportunity for great growth.
Say hello to the new Dairy Drink from Farm Dairy and PlanetDairy, both in The Netherlands. It is hybrid milk making its debut in Albert Heijn grocery stores across the country.
(It’s a hybrid milk that also has potential to be transformed into a refrigerated dessert.)
PlanetDairy has combined its proprietary core technology with Farm Dairy’s production platform to make this new blended milk product possible. It provides the taste and nutritional profile of traditional dairy with the lower carbon benefits of plant ingredients.
“We first met with Albert Heijn in the spring of 2024,” according to Paul Cornillon, chief technology officer at PlanetDairy, a company dedicated to creating hybrid dairy products. “We shared the success of our cheese launch (under the brand name of Audu) in the Nordic markets and approached them with ideas on cheese, milk and yogurt.”
To read more about PlanetDairy and Audu, link
HERE.
The first challenge to overcome was taste and appearance. The new milk blend had to look and taste like traditional dairy milk. That’s where most consumers are today.
As mentioned earlier, today’s consumers want sustainable options, but are not necessarily willing to pay for them. The companies worked together to select ingredients to match the experience of traditional dairy, while also being affordable and nutritionally balanced.
The Dairy Drink comes in three varieties: skim, semi-skimmed and whole fat. They are 60% to 70% cows’ milk, depending on variety, with the balance comprised of plant-derived ingredients.
If your company is not already exploring this space. It’s time.
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