Kraft Heinz Rolls Out Non-Dairy Cheese

Oct. 31, 2022

Wrapped slices are Kraft’s first vegan cheese sold at retail.

Kraft Heinz is rolling out its first-ever non-dairy cheese sold as a standalone retail product.

Not Cheese, individually wrapped slices of plant-based analogue cheese, currently are in test market in Cleveland, to be followed by a national rollout before the end of the year. Not Cheese is advertised as tasting and melting the same as Velveeta and other cheese singles long marketed by Kraft. Its main listed ingredients are water, coconut oil, modified corn starch and chickpea protein.

Not Cheese was produced under Kraft’s partnership with TheNotCompany (NotCo), a Chile-based producer and marketer of alternative proteins. Kraft rolled out a vegan version of its boxed mac & cheese last year, and its foodservice division also markets non-dairy cheese to restaurants, but Not Cheese is Kraft’s first venture into a pure non-dairy cheese for retail.

“We achieved this [product] with record speed, and using our agile ways of working, we created a superior consumer offering by combining the power of our brands and NotCo’s unique artificial intelligence technology,” CEO Miguel Patricio said during an earnings call.

About the Author

Pan Demetrakakes | Senior Editor

Pan has written about the food and beverage industry for more than 25 years. His areas of coverage have included formulations, processing, packaging, marketing and retailing. Pan worked for Food Processing Magazine for six years in the 1990s, where he was operations editor (his current role), touring dozens of food plants of every description. He has also worked for Packaging and Food & Beverage Packaging magazines, the latter as chief editor, during which he won three ASBPE awards. He is a graduate of Stanford University with a BA in communications.