Things are happening in cottage cheese1. Social media has helped open consumers’ eyes to the possibilities of this creamy, high-protein cheese variety. So, how can you as a dairy producer explore the opportunities at hand and become a part of the cottage cheese boom?
Fact is, the threshold to get started might be lower than you think.
Join Mateusz Pawlik, Business Development Manager for Cheese here at Tetra Pak, as he provides six considerations, pointers, and tips to kick-start you into the cottage cheese segment.
Consumer behaviour in your market
How do people consume cottage cheese? Perhaps a strange question, but fact is that the consumption patterns differ a lot from country to country. Mateusz explains:
“In northern Europe, cottage cheese is generally not preferred in a liquid format – it is rather consumed as a, for example, bread topping. And in certain markets cottage cheese is mainly seen as an ingredient in different dishes, while in others it is common to add sweet cream or dressing to a liquid-format cottage cheese and eat it as a snack. Many consumers are also looking for low-fat, low-sugar sources of protein.”
In addition, cottage cheese is easy to buy, easy to eat and thereby functions as a perfect, ‘natural’ food alternative to, for example, powders or protein bars.
This combination of ease of use and versatility is one of the keys to the popularity of this clean-label option. It is also worth remembering that the rise of cottage cheese continues to be fuelled by by social media, so new usage scenarios can develop and grow rapidly. We’re there to support you with knowledge about the current cottage cheese situation in your market and are happy to discuss how we together can make your brand stand out on store shelves.
Defining your product
“Cottage cheese is often seen as more than ‘just’ another type of cheese,” Mateusz says. “It is a savoury snack, an ingredient, a ‘healthy’ sweet or even a full meal in its own right.”
So how can you meet the challenges of keeping up with – or, even better, staying ahead of – a marketplace that is both growing and changing? How can you meet consumer demands for new and innovative recipes?
“First of all, good news is, you can use the same equipment base for different recipes. Secondly, we can help you as our customer, formulate your final product. With our market knowledge and expertise in cheese, we support you in creating that perfect structure and flavour. And last but not least: recipe formulation is not just about taste and mouthfeel of your cottage cheese – it is also about, for example, methods to extend product shelf life,” Mateusz adds.
Re-use your logistics setup and distribution chains
How can you get off to a quick and smooth start? First and foremost, your cottage cheese venture probably doesn’t require that you set everything up from scratch. Unlike ripened cheese varieties, cottage cheese can be available on the store shelf immediately after production – it is ready to be eaten from day one and doesn’t need to mature for months. Mateusz explains what this means.
“If you’re already producing fresh dairy products, like yoghurt or kefir, you most likely have a setup that you can re-use for cottage cheese. The aseptic tanks you use for fermenting can be used for dressing formulation. Your cold storage rooms will be perfect for cottage cheese too. And as yoghurt and cottage cheese are products with similar shelf life, you already have your chilled distribution chain in place. From the processing side, your milk and cream preparation setup can also be re-used.”
Furthermore, equipment such as filling machines can be used for multiple product types. For example, it is possible to produce cottage cheese for 12 hours, clean the machines and change over to cream cheese.
Start small, expand later
To stay on the ‘easy to get started’ subject, it might make sense to use a modular approach – meaning, starting with a smaller investment that you build upon as you move on to larger production volumes and/or more advanced recipes.
“It is all about easy expansion,” Mateusz says. “Which is basically about adding individual units as your requirements increase over time. For a basic setup we have our single step process where everything – heating, cooling, adding dressing – takes place in the Tetra Pak® Grainy Cheese Vat E4. This is not a highly optimised method, but the end-product quality is still the same as with the full process. Then you can add a Tetra Pak® Drum Drainer 2 and a Tetra Pak® Blender VCC for an entry level line. Another vat and blender give you more production capacity. And for a high-capacity, advanced level line, add a Tetra Pak® Drainer Washer 2 and a Tetra Pak® Cooling Tower to produce clean label cottage cheese with liquid sweet dressing or cream.”
Focus on your operational cost
It’s been said before, but just so you won’t miss the main message here: the cottage cheese market is growing. However, that doesn’t mean that margins aren’t under pressure.
“Just as with any other dairy product, the key to competitiveness is to focus on operational cost. In other words, you need to stay energy-efficient, labour-efficient and you need a lot of equipment uptime,” Mateusz says.
Our experts can help you with a TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) analysis, which serves as an excellent starting point to identify potential savings. This gives you valuable insights into how you can optimise your processes for your needs, environment, and product.
Additional value streams
According to Eurostat2, raw cow milk in the EU contains an average of 4% fat and production of classic, full-fat cottage cheese uses about 25% of the raw milk’s fat. The other 75% – or 30 kg of fat for every 1,000 litres of milk used for cottage cheese production – creates an additional value stream. Mateusz again:
“That fat is a valuable ingredient that can be used on parallel production lines to make other types of products such as ordinary butter, whipped cream desserts, or even ice cream. Anhydrous milk fat is also worth mentioning, a product for which price levels have remained high over the last 18 months3. We are helping customer manage and monetise on all value streams linked to cottage cheese production.”
Want to discuss cottage cheese opportunities with us?
1CAGR for cottage cheese reached 2.49% between 2020 and 2024. Forecasts predict 3.49% for 2024-2028.
Source: Statista - The Statistics Portal for Market Data, Market Research and Market Studies
2Source: Eurostat, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/apro_mk_fatprot/default/line?lang=en
3Source: Global Diary Trade, https://www.globaldairytrade.info/en/product-results/anhydrous-milk-fat/