The cheese is available in six sliced varieties, including medium cheddar, American-style Colby and mozzarella.

Natural cheese continues to dominate in the cheese category. The natural cheese category showed dollar sales up 0.3% to $12.9 billion, while unit sales stayed at $3.9 billion, according to data from Chicago-based market research firm IRI for the 52 weeks ending Dec. 31, 2017.

Natural cheese sales have been steady for subcategories such as slices and shreds, but others (crumbles, chunks) are struggling. Meanwhile, cheese spreads/balls saw a sales boost in the processed cheese category.

As we wrote about in our State of the Industry report last month, consumers love their cheese and are eating more of it, but prefer all-natural varieties.

Dollar and unit sales for most natural cheese segments are up, while processed cheeses are still not the first choice for many consumers.

Unit sales are up slightly for the natural cheese category, but sales of processed cheese continue to decline.

Cheese usage today falls into three categories — industrial, retail and foodservice.

Convenience is the key. Shred it, grate it, crumble it. Consumers like their cheese ready-to-go, whether it’s natural or processed, though natural is still winning the game. 

Chicago-based Dutch Farms added the Deli Reserve line to its brand.