TikTok made cottage cheese so popular, producers are struggling to keep up

CNN

26-07-2025

When clients used to ask John Crawford if he thought cottage cheese could make a comeback, his answer was an emphatic: 'No.'
'Part of it was texture, part of it was – it was a diet food, it was your grandparents' food,' said Crawford, SVP of client insights for dairy at the market research firm Circana. 'But TikTok changed all that.'
For years, cottage cheese was overlooked, relegated to the diet section of old-fashioned diner menus and health food recipes from the 1950s. But recently, young, protein-hungry consumers have whipped up new recipes and posted them online, turning the lumpy cheese into an internet sensation. Now, popular brands and manufacturers are struggling to keep up with skyrocketing demand.
Cottage cheese sales jumped 20% in US retail in the 52 weeks through June 15 compared to a year ago, according to data from Circana. That followed a roughly 17% annual bump in both 2024 and 2023 and an 11% increase in 2022. The surge marked a turnaround from 2021, when cottage cheese sales fell from the year prior.
Cottage cheese is so popular, it made grocery chain Albertons' CEO Susan Morris do a double take.
'I had to double check the numbers, but cottage cheese is actually a strong growth category,' Morris said during a July analyst call discussing quarterly financial results.
Some brands have seen even higher spikes, creating spot shortages. Sales of Organic Valley's cottage cheese grew over 30% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to the co-op. 'Organic Valley Cottage Cheese is selling faster than we can make it,' said Andrew Westrich, marketing manager at Organic Valley.
Good Culture, a decade-old cottage cheese brand that is featured prominently in many TikTok videos, has seen its sales explode to the point where it can't keep product on shelves. On July 2nd, the company acknowledged the situation on its Instagram page. 'We know it's been hard to find us lately,' read the caption on the meme-filled post. 'We see the DMs, know demand has been WILD and are working around the clock to get us back in stock.'
Customers 'call, email, and post about us when they can't find us,' said Jesse Merrill, CEO and founder of Good Culture. 'The insane demand for our products and our struggle to keep up with it prompted us to acknowledge the shortage.'
Merrill saw the potential for cottage cheese back in 2014, he said. It took about ten years for health food influencers to catch up.
Cottage cheese, a popular diet food in the middle of the 20th century, was well past its heyday when Good Culture officially launched in 2015. But since then, Americans have been increasingly looking for foods that are high in protein, low in sugar and appropriate for a GLP-1 diet. At the same time, dairy has gotten more popular, with per capita consumption rising in the US.
Cottage cheese fits the bill on all fronts. And creative home chefs have figured out how to mask its texture.
By spring of 2023, recipes for cottage cheese ice cream were going viral on TikTok. Scores of videos showed food influencers marveling over strawberry cheesecake ice cream, banana cream pie ice cream, berry banana ice cream and more — all made with cottage cheese. Now, in addition to ice cream, interested parties can find recipes for everything from buffalo chicken dip to bagels and biscuits. One account for a self-described health coach has a series of videos simply titled 'how to make cottage cheese taste good.'
Coming up with more ways to use a product at home 'can drive an entire category,' Circana's Crawford said. And sellers of the until-recently not-very-cool cheese are leaning in. Cabot Creamery, which makes a Vermont-style cottage cheese (a mix of large and small curds), has posted recipes for cheesecake dip, pizza toast and queso on its website. Good Culture took advantage of its own viral moment with an ad campaign embracing the various ways of preparing and consuming its product.
The sustained interest has Crawford convinced that demand for cottage cheese isn't just a passing craze. 'It is not a fad when you are seeing double-digit growth in both dollars and in volume, quarter over quarter over quarter, for two years,' he said.
Now manufacturers just have to catch up.
To increase supply, Good Culture has started working with more manufacturing partners. But it can't do much more at the moment.
'Most existing production facilities are maxed out,' Merrill said. Good Culture plans to have 'significantly more capacity available' early next year, he added.
Organic Valley also works with contract manufacturers, 'many of whom are actively expanding capacity or adding production shifts to meet rising demand,' said Westrich, adding that 'the environment is highly competitive.'
Dairy processors have started to build out more production, but it will take time to get new plants or equipment up and running.
Daisy Brand, a major producer of cottage cheese and sour cream, recently broke ground on a new facility in Iowa. And Westby Cooperative Creamery, a farmer-owned dairy co-op that sells cottage cheese under its own brand and also makes it for private label and foodservice providers, is investing in new cottage cheese vats.
Currently, Westby can make about 14.5 million pounds of cottage cheese per year, said Emily Bialkowski, the co-op's sales and marketing manager. But 'our orders are exceeding that by no less than 30%, and that does not include new inquiries,' she said. The new vats should be operational in the fall of next year, she said, noting that 'word is getting out … and many of our current customers have lined up to pre-commit to additional volume.' For now, Westby is partially filling customer orders.
So cottage cheese fans will have to be patient. Or wait until TikTok moves on to the next big thing.