M. Shahbandeh
Research expert covering agriculture & FMCG
U.S. cream cheese market - statistics & facts
Cream cheese is a type of soft and mild-tasting cheese. Made from milk and cream, it is intended to be consumed fresh, hence, it differs from other soft cheeses like Brie and Neufchâtel. For the 12 weeks ended in January 2023, U.S. total soft cream cheese sales amounted to about 323 million U.S. dollars. In 2022, U.S. retail sales of natural cheese amounted to about 12 billion U.S. dollars
Biggest players in the market
In the retail environment, consumers can find branded cream cheese such as Philadelphia and private label products. By end of January 2023, Philadelphia was by far the category leader in the United States. The brand is owned by the Kraft Foods Group, which is headquartered in Northfield, Illinois. Their product portfolio contains traditional cream cheese spreads and flavored cream cheese options. As of August 2022, overall branded cheese held a market share of 77 percent in the U.S. cream cheese segment.Cream cheese consumption
Americans enjoyed their cream cheese, as the per capita consumption totaled 2.86 pounds in 2021. According to a 2022 survey, over 40 percent of U.S. households had consumed dairy products as a way to improve their immune function or overall health. That year, almost three quarter of consumers had purchased exclusively dairy products in the past month in the United States. Contrastingly, only five percent of consumers purchased exclusively plant-based dairy alternatives in the past month from retail and food services.
