Brian Sharoff, president of the New York-based Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA), passed away on May 23 after a brief illness, according to a statement issued by Tim Simmons, PLMA’s vice president, communications.

According to the New York-based association, this year’s entries showed that retailers are increasingly relying on innovations in store brand products and packaging to attract and retain shoppers.

Their performance in the grocery channel increased dramatically in 2017, according to new research from FMI and IRI.

A new report by New York-based Nielsen shows that store brand sales jumped by nearly 10% in 2017 in mass merchandisers, club stores and dollar stores, while the mass channel came closer than ever before to overtaking traditional supermarkets as the place where consumers buy their groceries.

Dairy processors can see their future in this one statistic: 97% of millennials are likely to buy store brands. Someone has to manufacture those brands. It might as well be your company. When Dairy Foods surveyed its readers in 2016, it found that 40% do provide contract manufacturing services.

If you manufacture branded dairy foods, then you should consider taking on private label products if you have the capacity. By manufacturing foods and beverages for other companies, dairy plants can keep their production lines moving.