US dairy leader Schuman Cheese and olive oil cheese producer Good Planet Foods have formed GPV Foods, a joint venture to meet the demand for improved non-dairy products.
To address one of the most polarising plant-based alternative products, Schuman Cheese and Good Planet Foods have created GPV Foods, a new US entity to produce better vegan cheese.
Schuman is a legacy player in the US dairy market and the country’s largest importer of Italian cheese; Good Planet is an eight-year-old startup known for its olive-oil-based cheeses.
The joint venture brings together Schuman’s Vevan brand of non-dairy cheese with Good Planet’s retail business, uniting their scale, reach and expertise to meet the demand for tastier products.
“This partnership strengthens our manufacturing capabilities, expands our plant‑based portfolio, and positions us for rapid growth in a category we strongly believe in,” said Keith Schuman, plant‑based business lead at Schuman. “Together, we can scale faster, serve our customers better, and set a new standard for what plant‑based cheese can deliver.”
GPV Foods will leverage brands’ retail and foodservice footprints
Good Planet Foods began with a range of coconut-oil-based cheeses, including snackable wedges, smoked wheels, and snack packs. In 2023, it switched to olive oil as its key ingredient, pairing it with tapioca and potato starch and pea protein, in response to consumer feedback about saturated fat content.
The Bellevue-based startup’s current portfolio includes shreds, slices, blocks, and snackable cubes made from olive oil, alongside a trimmed coconut oil lineup. They’re available in over 1,200 retail doors nationwide.
Schuman has been around since 1945, and diversified into the plant-based category in 2020 with Vevan. The brand initially started with palm oil and modified potato starch as the base ingredients, before shifting to a pea milk and coconut oil lineup.
It makes Cheddar, mozzarella and pepper jack shreds and slices, alongside a cream cheese range. Schuman describes the products as having “superior melt and consumer-winning flavour”, which are available in both retail and foodservice channels.
GPV Foods will combine Good Planet’s retail presence with Vevan’s foodservice and ingredient expertise. It will benefit from greater production capacity and streamlined distribution, which will allow it to respond faster to market needs, broaden its reach, and invest in new technologies and formulas that “push the boundaries” of vegan cheese.
“Pairing our retail leadership with Vevan’s foodservice strength creates a truly unmatched platform. This venture allows us to reach more consumers, deliver superior innovation, and accelerate growth in a way that benefits the entire category,” said Good Planet founder and CEO David Israel.
Financial and political challenges stretch vegan cheese market
Both brands will remain distinct and focus on the markets and channels they perform best in, with their products now available in nearly 5,000 stores, according to Nosh. Vevan, meanwhile, is set to reformulate many of its recipes using Good Planet’s olive oil platform.
The partnership comes amid middling retail performance for vegan cheese in the US. Last year, dollar sales dropped by 4% to $218M and household penetration fell to 4% (a one-point drop from 2023), according to SPINS data crunched by the Good Food Institute (GFI). Dairy-free alternatives have made up just 1% of the overall cheese market for the last three years.
That being said, repeat purchase rates were up from 48% in 2023 to 54% in 2024, indicating that products are better meeting consumer needs, GFI said.
Israel told Nosh that there will likely be some consolidation in the workforce after potential redundancies are identified as part of the new venture. That aligns with the wider sector too. In June, French dairy giant Bel Group announced it will withdraw its Nurishh brand of plant-based cheese by the end of 2025 due to low sales, and close its production factory in Saint-Nazaire, which is set to impact around 30 jobs.
In further examples of category consolidation in the US, vegan cheese startup Vertage Foods was snapped up by fellow plant-based firm Misha’s Inc in January, and dairy-free nutrition firm Kate Farms was acquired by Silk owner Danone this summer.
Poor sales aren’t the only challenge facing this industry. Last week, a bipartisan group of senators revived the Dairy Pride Act, asking the Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of ‘milk’, ‘cheese’, ‘yoghurt’ and other such terms on non-dairy alternatives. The agency has also received a complaint against vegan butter maker Country Crock’s use of the phrase ‘Dairy-Free Salted/Unsalted Butter’ on its Homestyle lineup.
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