September 21, 2016

Innovative, organic cottage cheese startup, good culture® has closed on a $3 million round of funding led by existing investors, CAVU Venture Partners and 301 Inc., and including a new investment from the Eisner family through company chairman, Anders Eisner.

Tapping into the ‘better for you’ snack category, and looking to disrupt the cottage cheese segment, California-based good culture® produces a range of organic, grass fed, high protein, low-sugar cottage cheeses that are free of thickeners, gums, stabilizers, or additives in flavors including Pineapple (launched September 21), Classic, Strawberry Chia, Blueberry Acai Chia, and Kalamata Olive. The 5.3 ounce single serve cups are currently being sold across the U.S. through Whole Foods, Sprouts, Wegman’s, Meijer, and select ShopRite and Publix stores.

“good culture is a nutrient-dense, high protein, simple ingredient product ticking several [health and wellness] megatrend buckets that are on top of mind with our consumer target,” company co-founder Jesse Merrill told Dairy Reporter.

Only a year old, good culture® closed on its first $2.1 million round of fundraising from CAVU Venture Partners and 301 Inc. earlier this year when it was still a fledgling company. However, over the course of its first year good culture ® has seen meteoric growth, with sales increasing more than ten times.

“I am humbled by how fast our brand has taken off. good culture is honored to have such amazing backers to catapult our expansion even more and fund the opportunities we have coming down the pipeline,” said Merrill.

Although unwilling to discuss the company’s expansion plans in detail at this time, Merrill told Dairy Reporter that good culture will use the fresh capital to fund the launch of several “exciting and new innovations” in 2017.

Consumers have been turning away from traditional dairy products in recent years in favor of plant-based alternatives or value-added, or premium products. However, Food Dive reports that good culture seems to have found a channel for meeting shifting consumer demands through disrupting the long-ignored segment of cottage cheese – which while being able to offer looked-for health benefits, is still a flexible enough product to carry a range of up-to-the-minute flavors. The significant growth the company has seen this past year and the return of both CAVU and 301 Inc. for a second round of investment are testament to the success of the company’s successful strategy.

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Lynda Kiernan