MORTON GROVE, Ill. — Lifeway Foods, Inc., a leading supplier of cultured dairy products known as kefir and organic kefir, announced this week that it is ranked #39 on Crain's Chicago Business' 2012 Fast 50, a prestigious annual list of the fastest growing public and private companies in the Chicago area.
Crain's ranks the fastest-growing public and private companies in the Chicago area based on five-year revenue growth. Lifeway Foods has seen a 178 percent five-year revenue growth, reporting $77.1 million in revenue in 2011 up from $63.5 million in revenue in 2010.
"We believe our strong sales momentum will continue in 2012," said Julie Smolyansky, CEO of Lifeway Foods, Inc. "This year, we expect increased distribution of our kefir products with our retail partners. Our recent expansion with Target exhibits the growing healthy living trend, consumers' demand for nutritious products, and retailers increasingly expanding their product offerings to support consumer demand."
Innovative products such as ProBugs, a line of kids' beverages launched in 2006, have kept Lifeway on top of the cultured dairy market. In 2011, sales of ProBugs' most popular flavor (Goo-Berry Pie) increased 40 percent. Last summer, Lifeway Foods launched pints of frozen kefir, available in eight flavors and this spring, it added a frozen ProBugs product to the lineup.
About Lifeway Foods, Inc.
Lifeway Foods, Inc. /quotes/zigman/58455/quotes/nls/lway LWAY -0.10% , recently named one of Fortune Small Business' Fastest Growing Companies for the fifth consecutive year, is America's leading supplier of the cultured dairy products known as kefir and organic kefir. Lifeway Kefir is a dairy beverage that contains 10 exclusive live and active probiotic cultures plus ProBoost(TM). In addition to its line of Kefir products, the company produces a variety of Frozen Kefir and probiotic cheese products. Lifeway also sells frozen kefir, kefir smoothies and kefir parfaits through its Starfruit(TM) retail stores. For more information, visit http://www.lifewaykefir.com or follow Lifeway Foods on Facebook ( www.facebook.com/lifewaykefir ); Twitter ( http://twitter.com/lifewaykefir ); Pinterest ( http://pinterest.com/lifewaykefir ); Flickr ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/Lifeway_Kefir ) or YouTube ( http://www.youtube.com/user/lifewaykefir ).
Source: Lifeway Foods, Inc.
