Lifeway Foods Buys Dairy Plant for Expanded Kefir Business

Lifeway Foods Inc., a leading supplier of kefir cultured dairy products, acquired for $7.4 million the Golden Guernsey dairy plant in Waukesha, Wis., to provide additional manufacturing capacity for its growing kefir-based business. 

Adding the 170,000-square-foot plant to Lifeway’s existing 50,000-square-foot facility in Morton Grove, Ill., will more than quadruple the company’s production capacity and provide much-needed expansion abilities.

The Golden Guernsey plant was shuttered in January following a bankruptcy filing, leaving 112 employees without jobs. Lifeway plans to reopen the plant this summer and rehire a portion of the workforce to staff the facility. The transaction is expected to close on June 10. 

Lifeway’s growth has been fueled in part by the burgeoning natural foods movement as well as mounting awareness of the health benefits of probiotic products such as kefir. 

Diversification of Lifeway’s product portfolio has also contributed, with innovations ranging from ProBugs organic kefir drinks for children to the market’s first packaged frozen kefir. The company’s newest products include freeze-dried Lifeway ProBugs Bites for infants, other new ProBugs varieties for older children, frozen kefir bars and a Greek kefir line featuring extra protein.