Cottage cheese can be one of those polarizing foods—you either love it or hate it. I reside in the former camp. So, when a friend introduced me to Good Culture, one of the most delicious cottage cheeses that I have ever put into my mouth I was curious to learn a little more about the brand.
Launched in 2015 by Jesse Merrill and Anders Eisner, the brand is on a mission to bring cottage cheese back. When asked why cottage cheese, Merrill tells me, “Cottage Cheese is a nutrient-dense, high-protein, overlooked super-food. The sleepy $1.1B cottage cheese category had become stale and boring. The category lacked innovation and relevance, so we decided to create a better cottage cheese that would resonate with today’s consumer.”
Curious to know why cottage cheese had fallen out of favor in the first place Merrill continues, “Cottage cheese was bigger than yogurt in the 70s, but the category stopped innovating, and yogurt stole the show. We are bringing relevance back to the category with a product that ticks all of the boxes in terms of what today’s consumer is looking for. We only use real food, simple ingredients—the majority of the competition is loaded with additives like gums, thickeners, stabilizers, and chemical preservatives. Our cottage cheese is less polarizing from a texture standpoint, as we have created a proprietary small and soft curd recipe that results in a thicker, creamier cottage cheese that isn’t slimy or soupy. Real food always tastes better. And, we offer a single-serve fruit on the bottom range to support today’s active lifestyle shopper that is constantly on the go.”
Merrill and Eisner are no strangers to taking brands to new levels. Merrill was the head of marketing for Honest Tea. When he joined the company they were a sub-$10M brand sold primarily through the natural channel and during his tenure Honest Tea grew to over $70M in sales and sold to Coca-Cola in 2011. After the sale Merrill joined Eisner (who is the son of Michael Eisner) at ACTIVATE Drinks, an enhanced water brand, as the head of marketing while Eisner was the founder. ACTIVATE was sold three years later and the pair joined forces to launch Good Culture, where Merrill is the CEO/cofounder and Eisner is the cofounder and chairman.
When I ask whether they funded the venture on their own Merrill responds, “Yes, we did self-finance in year 1 and then took an investment from General Mills’ VC arm, 301 INC and CAVU Venture Partners in year 2. CAVU is a great group with an amazing team of proven operators and General Mills offers deep resources across all functions of the business to help accelerate growth”.
In terms of growth Merrill continues, “Good Culture has experienced fast growth since launching. We are in close to 10K doors including Whole Foods, Sprouts, Target, Walmart, Kroger, ShopRite, Stop & Shop, Giant, and more now and grew 300% last year vs. the prior year. It is so exciting to shake up a stale category with innovation that resonates, while making real food that heals, more accessible. We are expecting sales to exceed 100% growth again this year. In 5 years, we hope to be a category leader that is playing across several adjacent categories.”
Besides the delicious taste what I love about the brand is their dedication to sourcing clean ingredients. Merrill tells me, “Good Culture would never source milk from confined animals. We only source milk from pasture-raised animals that roam free on pasture. Ninety-percent of U.S. dairy cows are confined. They have just enough room to stand and sit and are unable to perform even the most basic natural behaviors. Good Culture is NOT okay with that! We respect our animals and will continue to fight to ensure the humane treatment of animals. Good Culture only uses simple ingredients that you can pronounce. We would never use gums, thickeners, stabilizers, or chemical preservatives. Several of these ingredients have been linked to inflammation and malignancies. Inflammation is the root cause of all disease in the body, so we are very firm about not using these types of ingredients. I’m a big believer in food as medicine”.
Merrill continues, “A few years ago, I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (UC), a “chronic” inflammatory bowel disease. I was told that I would have to live on harsh drugs for life to help keep my symptoms at bay, but that I would never actually heal the disease. I asked my doctor if modifying my diet could have an impact. He said, ‘No, there was no correlation to diet’. I immediately dismissed this, met with an integrative doctor and committed to a three-year diet where I ate nothing but real foods that helped to reduce inflammation in the body. Cultured dairy (mostly Good Culture cottage cheese) was a major part of this diet. Within 2 months of living on this diet, all of my symptoms went away without taking drugs. I’m happy to report that my last colonoscopy taken 2 months ago showed no sign of UC. It was as if I never had the disease. That said, food can heal and the wrong foods can certainly wreak havoc on your body. We choose to use ingredients that heal.”
When I ask what the biggest challenge has been since their launch, Merrill tells me, “Cottage cheese has high levels of awareness, but there is a consideration challenge, especially with younger consumer segments who haven’t tried cottage cheese or have a negative perception. We recently pulled data that showed Good Culture as a brand is driving growth in the category with new users including Millennials and younger generation X. We receive emails all of the time from consumers who say things like “I always thought I hated cottage cheese, but now I eat Good Culture everyday, so we are elevating the category.”
The brand offers six flavors in two varieties of products—one that is certified organic that utilizes whole milk and the other that is the natural variety that is made with 2% milk that uses the same simple high-quality ingredients, just not organic. The two newest flavors are Organic Mango and Natural Peach. I personally love the Kalamata Olive flavor. Curious to know how the brand manages to produce cottage cheese with significantly higher protein counts when compared to other brands, Merrill tells me, “Good Culture has 19g of protein in a 5.3 ounce cup, which is 3 times more protein than most regular yogurts. Good Culture offers a proprietary real-food recipe and process that yields more protein without the use of protein concentrates.”
What’s great about cottage cheese is that you can use it for both sweet and savory recipes. Merrill continues, “Cottage cheese is incredibly versatile. You can use it as an ingredient in lasagna, baked ziti, pancakes, and smoothies for starters. It tastes delicious and adds a nice protein boost to any dish. I put cottage cheese on bread with peanut butter, bananas, and honey. It is so delicious!!”
