Much smaller in comparison, with $28.3 million in sales, the shelf-stable yogurt/yogurt drink subcategory showed promise — dollar sales jumped 43.5% and unit sales increased 20.1%. Materne North America led the subcategory with $14.2 million. Dollar and unit sales skyrocketed 172.6% and 157.8%, respectively. Private label struggled, however; dollar sales decreased 20.5% and unit sales dropped 20.7%.

Yogurt’s kefir cousin also took a hit this year — subcategory dollar sales dropped 6.2% to $110.6 million, and unit sales declined 3.9% to 37.1 million.

Cream cheese sales are split

The cream cheese category’s dollar sales improved 2% to $1.7 billion, but unit sales dropped 0.4% to 660.9 million. The category consists of five subcategories, which are split with sales up and down.

The soft cream cheese subcategory leads with $764.8 million. Dollar sales rose 4.3%, and unit sales were  up 1.8% to 275 million. Coming in second, the brick cream cheese subcategory saw dollar sales decline 1.4% to $739.9 million, and unit sales dip 2.8% to 325 million.

Sales in the whipped cream cheese subcategory saw an upturn; dollar sales improved 7.4% to $176.4 million, and unit sales increased 2.6% to 60.5 million. The “all other forms of cream cheese” subcategory saw the most impressive sales improvements — dollar sales jumped 210.1% to $1.2 million, and unit sales saw a 279.4% boost to 0.3 million. The smaller cream cheese balls subcategory took the biggest hit — dollar sales dropped 28.7% to $0.5 million, and unit sales fell 24.1% to 0.1 million.

Sour cream sales not all sour

The sour cream category saw dollar sales improve 1.3% to $1.2 million, and unit sales were up 0.3% to 624.7 million. Daisy Brand led the category with $645.4 million; dollar sales were up 5.2%, and unit sales advanced 4.3% to 292.6 million. But Dean’s was the winner in the category; dollar sales saw an impressive 153.4% increase, and unit sales jumped 135.4%. Cacique also saw an upsurge — dollar sales increased 28.2%, and unit sales improved 21.9%.

Tillamook took the biggest hit, with dollar sales down 16.1%, and unit sales down 18%.

Cottage cheese sales curdle

The cottage cheese category didn’t fare as well. Dollar sales dropped 2.5% to $1.1 billion, and unit sales dipped 1.1% to 429.8 million. Private label was the category leader with $392.6 million. But dollar sales dropped 2%, though unit sales increased 0.8%.

Dean’s Country Fresh was the big winner — dollar sales saw an impressive 92.5% upturn, and unit sales jumped 98.2%.  On the flipside, regular Dean’s cottage cheese saw dollar sales drop 37.4% and unit sales decrease 40.8%.