With its launch in family supermarket Kroger, Treeline will become the first artisanal non-dairy cheese to be widely distributed through traditional supermarket channels.
“Artisanal treenut cheeses just went mainstream,” says Michael Schwarz, Treeline’s founder and CEO. “That speaks volumes for the desirability of our products in particular, and where the plant-based market is heading in general.”
Treeline’s treenut cheeses contain no dairy. Instead, the products are made from cashew nuts, fermented using a process similar to that used in some dairy cheese production. The cheeses are probiotic and free from all artificial ingredients, preservatives, gums, thickeners and stabilizers. “Treeline’s truly ‘clean label’ embodies exactly what today’s conscious consumer is looking for,” says Schwarz.
Treeline’s products are aimed at a number of sectors – from lovers of fine cheese to vegans, lactose intolerant people and followers of gluten-free, paleo and kosher diets. Treeline products can be found in a large number of ‘natural channel’ stores like Whole Foods Markets, Natural Grocers, MoM’s Organic Markets and several smaller health food stores and coops.
With the addition of Kroger branded stores as well as the Kroger family of Ralph’s (West Coast), Fred Meyer (Northwest), Dillon’s (Central U.S.), King Soopers (Midwest), Quality Food Centers (Northwest), Fry’s (Southwest) and Smith’s and Jay-C (Midwest), Treeline will have more have more points of distribution than any other artisanal vegan cheese.
The company’s sales have grown by 100 per cent over the past two years and are expected to grow another 100 per cent this year.