For Immediate Release
Lifeway Foods’ Kefir Awarded Retailer
Choice Award
Producer of Nutritious,
Cultured Dairy Beverage Recognized by Food Marketing
Institute
Morton Grove, IL—May 10, 2005—Lifeway Foods Inc., (Nasdaq:
LWAY), makers of a nutritious, milk-based cultured beverage
called kefir, announced today that its Kefir drink was
recognized by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) this month,
receiving the 2005 Retailer Choice Award. The FMI’s retailer
and wholesaler attendees chose the company’s Kefir drink as
a winner from among a number of different entrants in the
New Product beverage category.
“Receiving the FMI’s Retailer Choice Award is a very
important event in our company’s history,” said Julie
Smolyansky, speaking from Lifeway’s headquarters in Morton
Grove, IL. “That our Kefir received the award from among
such stiff competition speaks to the appeal of the product,
which is already widely enjoyed by a diverse and growing
group of consumers. We are very pleased to have received the
Retailer Choice Award, and will continue to serve both our
customers and the retailers themselves by providing
nutritious, quality products.”
The Food Marketing Institute introduced their Retailer
Choice Awards in 2004 to recognize outstanding performers in
a variety of different retail categories. The award is given
for products that have been launched in the year leading up
to the FMI convention and are a completely new category or
line extension, or, in exceptional cases, have been
relaunched or repackaged. While Lifeway Foods has been
producing its Kefir beverages for a number of years, the
company continuously expands its product line, changing
flavors or repackaging the distinctive 32-ounce bottles to
make them more appealing to a growing customer base.
Lifeway Foods’ Kefir is a milk-based beverage that contains
ten types of “friendly,” active probiotic cultures. While
normal yogurt only contains two or three of these cultures,
Lifeway kefir products offer more nutritional benefits and
are a perfect addition to the diets of pregnant women,
nursing mothers, the elderly, and children. Lifeway Foods
provides the largest selection of kefir in the world and
offers 12 different flavors of its Kefir beverage, Organic
Kefir, SoyTreat (a soy based kefir). Lifeway also produces a
line of products marketed in US Hispanic communities, called
La Fruta Drinkable Yogurt (yogurt drinks distinct from
kefir). In addition to its line of Kefir products, the
company also produces a variety of cheese products.
For more information, contact Julie Smolyansky, President,
Lifeway Foods Inc. at (847) 967-1010 or e-mail at info@lifeway.net
and visit www.lifeway.net.
6431 W. Oakton
Morton Grove, IL 60053
847-967-1010
fax: 847-967-6558
