Q4 2025 Lifeway Foods Inc Earnings Call - Pre-Recorded

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John Waldron: Good morning. Welcome to Lifeway Foods' Q4 and full year 2025 conference call. On the call with me today is Julie Smolyansky, President and Chief Executive Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the press release that went out this morning. If you have not received the release, it is available on the investor relations portion of Lifeway's website at www.lifewayfoods.com. A recording of this call will be available on the company's website. Before we begin, we would like to remind everyone that the prepared remarks contain forward-looking statements. The words believe, expect, anticipate, plan, will, and other similar expressions generally identify forward-looking statements. These statements do not guarantee future performance and therefore undue reliance should not be placed on them. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements.

John Waldron: Good morning. Welcome to Lifeway Foods' Q4 and full year 2025 conference call. On the call with me today is Julie Smolyansky, President and Chief Executive Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the press release that went out this morning. If you have not received the release, it is available on the investor relations portion of Lifeway's website at www.lifewayfoods.com. A recording of this call will be available on the company's website. Before we begin, we would like to remind everyone that the prepared remarks contain forward-looking statements. The words believe, expect, anticipate, plan, will, and other similar expressions generally identify forward-looking statements. These statements do not guarantee future performance and therefore undue reliance should not be placed on them. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements.

On the call with me today is Julie Smolinski, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Now.

One should have access to the press release that went out this morning if.

If you have not received the release is available on the Investor Relations portion of Lifeway its website at Www Dot Lifeway foods Dot com.

A recording of this call will be available on the company's website.

Before we begin we'd like to remind everyone that the prepared remarks contain forward looking statements. The words believe expect anticipate plan well and other similar expressions generally identify forward looking statements.

Statements do not guarantee future performance and therefore undue reliance should not be placed on them.

Actual results could differ materially from those projected in any forward looking statements Lifeway assumes no obligation to update any forward looking projections that may be made during today's call except as required by law.

John Waldron: Lifeway assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking projections that may be made during today's call, except as required by law. All of the forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this call. Since our last quarterly earnings call, I'm pleased to share that Lifeway President and Chief Executive Officer, Julie Smolyansky, was named one of Progressive Grocer's Top Women in Grocery and honored with the Humanitarian of the Year award from the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. These recognitions highlight the leadership and values that guide Lifeway's continued growth and broader impact. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Lifeway's President and Chief Executive Officer, Julie Smolyansky.

John Waldron: Lifeway assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking projections that may be made during today's call, except as required by law. All of the forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this call. Since our last quarterly earnings call, I'm pleased to share that Lifeway President and Chief Executive Officer, Julie Smolyansky, was named one of Progressive Grocer's Top Women in Grocery and honored with the Humanitarian of the Year award from the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. These recognitions highlight the leadership and values that guide Lifeway's continued growth and broader impact. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Lifeway's President and Chief Executive Officer, Julie Smolyansky.

All of the forward looking statements contained herein.

Only as of the date of this call.

Since our last quarterly earnings call I'm pleased to share that <unk>, President and Chief Executive Officer, Julie landscape was named one of Progressive Grocers top woman in grocery and honored with the humanitarian of the year Award from the Illinois Holocaust Museum. These recognitions highlight the leadership and values that.

Guide Lifeway is continued growth and broader impact.

With that I'd like to turn the call over to <unk>, President and Chief Executive Officer, Julie Smolinski.

Thank you John and good morning to everyone joining us as always we greatly appreciate your interest in lightweight that.

Julie Smolyansky: Thank you, John, and good morning to everyone joining us. As always, we greatly appreciate your interest in Lifeway Foods. I'm thrilled to share our exceptional Q4 and full year 2025 results with you today. 2025 was truly a remarkable year for Lifeway, marked by record-breaking growth, expanding margins, and operational excellence across every dimension of our business. We achieved the highest annual net sales in the company history, delivered significant growth margin expansion, and grew net income by 54%. All of this while making strategic investments in capacity, marketing, and innovation that position us extraordinarily well for the future. Before diving into the details, I want to acknowledge the exceptional work of our entire Lifeway team. The outstanding results we continue to deliver are a direct reflection of your unwavering dedication.

Julie Smolyansky: Thank you, John, and good morning to everyone joining us. As always, we greatly appreciate your interest in Lifeway Foods. I'm thrilled to share our exceptional Q4 and full year 2025 results with you today. 2025 was truly a remarkable year for Lifeway, marked by record-breaking growth, expanding margins, and operational excellence across every dimension of our business. We achieved the highest annual net sales in the company history, delivered significant growth margin expansion, and grew net income by 54%. All of this while making strategic investments in capacity, marketing, and innovation that position us extraordinarily well for the future. Before diving into the details, I want to acknowledge the exceptional work of our entire Lifeway team. The outstanding results we continue to deliver are a direct reflection of your unwavering dedication.

And relative share our exceptional fourth quarter and full year 2025 results with you today 2025, it's truly a remarkable year for lightweight marked by record breaking growth expanding margins and operational excellence across every dimension of our business.

We achieved the highest annual net sales in the company history delivered significant growth margin expansion and grew net income by 54%.

All of this while making strategic investments in capacity marketing and innovation that position us extraordinarily well for the future.

Before diving into the details I want to acknowledge the exceptional work of our entire lifeway team the outstand.

<unk> results, we continued to deliver are a direct reflection of your unwavering dedication quarter. After quarter you all execute at the highest level and I am truly grateful for everything you bring to this organization.

Julie Smolyansky: Quarter after quarter, you all execute at the highest level, and I'm truly grateful for everything you bring to this organization. Let me start with our full year 2025 performance, which showcases the strength of our momentum and our business. We delivered record-breaking full year net sales of $212.5 million, up 13.7% year-over-year, driven by higher volumes of our Lifeway drinkable kefir, as well as strong growth in our Lifeway Farmer Cheese. Adjusted for two strategic modifications to customer relationships that we initiated in late 2024 to prioritize high-value brand-strengthening opportunities, our growth was approximately 19% on a comparable basis.

Julie Smolyansky: Quarter after quarter, you all execute at the highest level, and I'm truly grateful for everything you bring to this organization. Let me start with our full year 2025 performance, which showcases the strength of our momentum and our business. We delivered record-breaking full year net sales of $212.5 million, up 13.7% year-over-year, driven by higher volumes of our Lifeway drinkable kefir, as well as strong growth in our Lifeway Farmer Cheese. Adjusted for two strategic modifications to customer relationships that we initiated in late 2024 to prioritize high-value brand-strengthening opportunities, our growth was approximately 19% on a comparable basis.

Let me start with our full year 2025 performance, which showcases the strength of our momentum in our business.

We delivered record breaking full year net sales of $212 5 million up 13, 7% year over year, driven by higher volumes of our lifeway branded drinkable cheaper as well as strong growth in our lifeway farmer cheese.

Adjusted for two strategic modifications to customer relationships that we initiated in late 2024 to prioritize high value brand strengthening opportunities our growth was approximately 19% on a comparable basis.

It is worth noting that we are lapping an incredibly strong full year in 2024, when we delivered double digit growth in every quarter and grew nearly 17% year over year, which emphasizes the strength of our growth this year.

Julie Smolyansky: It is worth noting that we are lapping an incredibly strong full year in 2024 when we delivered double-digit growth in every quarter and grew nearly 17% year-over-year, which emphasizes the strength of our growth this year. This represents our sixth consecutive full year of significant volume-led annual net sales growth, a testament to the exploding customer demand for our core Lifeway offerings, the effectiveness of our marketing strategy, and the sustainability of our growth trajectory as we maintain our foothold as the undisputed leader in kefir. This outstanding annual performance was capped off by a very strong Q4, with net sales of $55.4 million, up 18% year-over-year, driven by strong volume growth of our Lifeway-branded products.

Julie Smolyansky: It is worth noting that we are lapping an incredibly strong full year in 2024 when we delivered double-digit growth in every quarter and grew nearly 17% year-over-year, which emphasizes the strength of our growth this year. This represents our sixth consecutive full year of significant volume-led annual net sales growth, a testament to the exploding customer demand for our core Lifeway offerings, the effectiveness of our marketing strategy, and the sustainability of our growth trajectory as we maintain our foothold as the undisputed leader in kefir. This outstanding annual performance was capped off by a very strong Q4, with net sales of $55.4 million, up 18% year-over-year, driven by strong volume growth of our Lifeway-branded products.

This represents our sixth consecutive full year of significant volume wide annual net sales growth.

Testament to the exploding customer demand for our core lifeway offerings and the effectiveness of our marketing strategy as well as the sustainability of our growth trajectory as we maintain our foothold as the undisputed leader in cheaper.

This outstanding annual performance was capped off by a very strong fourth quarter with net sales of $55 $4 million up 18% year over year, driven by strong volume growth of our lightweight branded product.

This was our 25th consecutive quarter of year over year net sales growth and gave us incredible momentum heading into 2026, which is off to a great start.

Julie Smolyansky: This was our 25th consecutive quarter of year-over-year net sales growth and gave us incredible momentum heading into 2026, which is off to a great start. Building on our powerful top-line performance, the growth flowed through the income statement as we delivered significant improvements across our core profitability metrics. Our gross profit margin for the full year was 27.4%, up 140 basis points compared to last year. This meaningful expansion reflects the strong volume growth of our core Lifeway-branded products, which provided manufacturing efficiencies that were enhanced by the ongoing investments in our Waukesha facility and the favorable impact of conventional milk pricing. We wrapped up with our Q4 gross profit margin of 27.8%, an impressive 250 basis points increase compared to last year.

Julie Smolyansky: This was our 25th consecutive quarter of year-over-year net sales growth and gave us incredible momentum heading into 2026, which is off to a great start. Building on our powerful top-line performance, the growth flowed through the income statement as we delivered significant improvements across our core profitability metrics. Our gross profit margin for the full year was 27.4%, up 140 basis points compared to last year. This meaningful expansion reflects the strong volume growth of our core Lifeway-branded products, which provided manufacturing efficiencies that were enhanced by the ongoing investments in our Waukesha facility and the favorable impact of conventional milk pricing. We wrapped up with our Q4 gross profit margin of 27.8%, an impressive 250 basis points increase compared to last year.

Building on our powerful topline performance the growth flowed through the income statement as we delivered significant improvements across our core profitability metrics.

Our gross profit margin for the full year was 27, 4% up 140 basis points compared to last year.

This meaningful expansion reflects the strong volume growth of our core lifeway branded product, which provided manufacturing efficiencies.

That were enhanced by the ongoing investment in our Waukesha facility and the favorable impact of.

Conventional milk pricing be wrapped up with our fourth quarter gross profit margin of 27, 8% an impressive 250 basis point increase compared to last year.

The margin expansion, we achieved throughout the year demonstrates our continued disciplined operational execution and our ability to scale the business profitably.

Julie Smolyansky: The margin expansion we achieved throughout the year demonstrates our continued disciplined operational execution and our ability to scale the business profitably. Selling, general, and administrative expenses as a percentage of net sales were 19.6% for the full year, up slightly from last year, reflecting continued investments throughout the year in marketing, sales activations, and retail expansion, all centered on growing brand recognition and driving product velocities. For the fourth quarter, SG&A as a percentage of net sales was 20.7%, leveraging more than 200 basis points year-over-year. Our sales performance throughout the year clearly illustrates the success of our marketing strategy. We're driving trial, accelerating product velocity, and building deep customer loyalty in the process while our products are flying off the shelves. We'll continue to invest behind our growth throughout 2026.

Julie Smolyansky: The margin expansion we achieved throughout the year demonstrates our continued disciplined operational execution and our ability to scale the business profitably. Selling, general, and administrative expenses as a percentage of net sales were 19.6% for the full year, up slightly from last year, reflecting continued investments throughout the year in marketing, sales activations, and retail expansion, all centered on growing brand recognition and driving product velocities. For the fourth quarter, SG&A as a percentage of net sales was 20.7%, leveraging more than 200 basis points year-over-year. Our sales performance throughout the year clearly illustrates the success of our marketing strategy. We're driving trial, accelerating product velocity, and building deep customer loyalty in the process while our products are flying off the shelves. We'll continue to invest behind our growth throughout 2026.

Selling general and administrative expenses as a percentage of net sales were 19, 6% for the full year up slightly from last year, reflecting continued investments throughout the year in marketing sales activations and retail expansion all centered on growing brand recognition in driving product velocity.

For the course fourth quarter SG&A as a percentage of net sales was 22, 7% leveraging more than 200 basis points year over year, our sales performance throughout the year clearly illustrates the success of our marketing strategy.

We're driving trial accelerating product velocity and building deep customer loyalty and the product processes, while are flying off the shelves.

We will continue to invest behind our growth throughout 2026.

Net income for the full year was $13 $9 million or <unk> 91 per basic and <unk> 89.

Julie Smolyansky: Net income for the full year was $13.9 million or $0.91 per basic and $0.89 per diluted common share, compared to $9 million or $0.61 per basic and $0.60 per diluted common share in the prior year. This represents an exceptional 54% net income growth, showcasing our ability to convert top line strength into bottom line results. Net income for Q4 was $2.5 million or $0.17 per basic and $0.15 per diluted common share, compared to a net loss of $0.2 million or a net loss of $0.01 per basic and diluted common share in the prior year. Like the full year results, the swing to meaningful profitability in Q4 demonstrates the strength of our business model and our commitment to operational excellence while we invest for growth.

Julie Smolyansky: Net income for the full year was $13.9 million or $0.91 per basic and $0.89 per diluted common share, compared to $9 million or $0.61 per basic and $0.60 per diluted common share in the prior year. This represents an exceptional 54% net income growth, showcasing our ability to convert top line strength into bottom line results. Net income for Q4 was $2.5 million or $0.17 per basic and $0.15 per diluted common share, compared to a net loss of $0.2 million or a net loss of $0.01 per basic and diluted common share in the prior year. Like the full year results, the swing to meaningful profitability in Q4 demonstrates the strength of our business model and our commitment to operational excellence while we invest for growth.

For diluted common share compared to $9 million or 61 per basic and <unk> 60 per diluted common share in the prior year.

This represents an exceptional 54% net income growth showcasing our ability to convert top line strength and to Bottomline results.

Net income for the fourth quarter was $2 $5 million or <unk> 17 per basic and <unk> 15 cents per diluted common share compared to one that lost a point $2 million or a net loss of one per basic and diluted common share in the prior year.

Like the full year results the swing to meaningful profitability in Q4 demonstrates the strength of our business model and our commitment to operational excellence, while we invest for growth.

Our outstanding performance in 2025 was driven by several key factors that will continue to power us forward as we look to the future.

Julie Smolyansky: Our outstanding performance in 2025 was driven by several key factors that will continue to power us forward as we look to the future. First, the demand for protein-rich probiotic functional foods shows no sign of slowing down. Today's consumer is focused on health and wellness more than ever before, and they're actively learning about the gut's critical role in their well-being. Additionally, the prevalence of Americans on GLP-1 is surging, with significant uptake projected in the coming years, particularly with the new oral GLP-1 format, and active GLP-1 users are consistently seeking out nutrient-dense foods that support gut health. Lifeway is perfectly positioned at the intersection of these powerful consumer trends. I am particularly excited to highlight the recent validation we've received from the U.S. government. The newly released Dietary Guidelines for Americans specifically named kefir and emphasize the importance of fermented foods and gut health.

Julie Smolyansky: Our outstanding performance in 2025 was driven by several key factors that will continue to power us forward as we look to the future. First, the demand for protein-rich probiotic functional foods shows no sign of slowing down. Today's consumer is focused on health and wellness more than ever before, and they're actively learning about the gut's critical role in their well-being. Additionally, the prevalence of Americans on GLP-1 is surging, with significant uptake projected in the coming years, particularly with the new oral GLP-1 format, and active GLP-1 users are consistently seeking out nutrient-dense foods that support gut health. Lifeway is perfectly positioned at the intersection of these powerful consumer trends. I am particularly excited to highlight the recent validation we've received from the U.S. government. The newly released Dietary Guidelines for Americans specifically named kefir and emphasize the importance of fermented foods and gut health.

First the demand for protein rich probiotic functional food shows no sign of slowing down today's consumer is focused on health and wellness more than ever before and they are actively learning about the critical role in their wellbeing. Additionally, the prevalence of Americans out G. L. P. One is surging with significant uptake projected in the coming years.

Particularly with the new oral G. L. P. One format and active G. L. P. One users are consistently seeking out nutrients out of food.

<unk> got health.

Lifeway is perfectly positioned at the intersection of these powerful consumer trends.

I am, particularly excited to highlight the recent validation where we've received from the U S government.

The newly released dietary guidelines guidelines for Americans, specifically named Keefer and emphasize the importance of fermented foods and got help.

Both that dairy was included in the new USDA food pyramid and keep her was mentioned in the supplemental materials.

Julie Smolyansky: Full fat dairy was included in the new USDA food pyramid, and kefir was mentioned in the supplemental materials. This is an incredible opportunity for Lifeway as our products are completely aligned with those new dietary guidelines. The government's validation of fermented dairy, kefir, and gut health is not just an endorsement of our category, it's an endorsement of everything Lifeway has been advocating for decades. This is a tailwind for our business, and it will only accelerate as consumers become more educated about the critical role that cultured dairy plays in overall wellness. The performance of our staples, Lifeway Drinkable Kefir and Lifeway Farmer Cheese, highlight our company's perfect position in today's CPG landscape. Our drinkable kefir is the significant bellwether of our business, and it continues to drive trial and generate awareness for the entire kefir category.

Julie Smolyansky: Full fat dairy was included in the new USDA food pyramid, and kefir was mentioned in the supplemental materials. This is an incredible opportunity for Lifeway as our products are completely aligned with those new dietary guidelines. The government's validation of fermented dairy, kefir, and gut health is not just an endorsement of our category, it's an endorsement of everything Lifeway has been advocating for decades. This is a tailwind for our business, and it will only accelerate as consumers become more educated about the critical role that cultured dairy plays in overall wellness. The performance of our staples, Lifeway Drinkable Kefir and Lifeway Farmer Cheese, highlight our company's perfect position in today's CPG landscape. Our drinkable kefir is the significant bellwether of our business, and it continues to drive trial and generate awareness for the entire kefir category.

This is an incredible opportunity for lifeway as our products are completely aligned with those new guys dietary guidelines.

The government's validation of preventive dairy confer and gut health is not just an endorsement of our category. It's an endorsement of everything lifeway has been advocating for decades.

As a tailwind for our business and it will only accelerate as consumers become more educated about the critical role the cultured dairy place in overall wellness.

The performance of our Staples like way drinkable cheaper and Lifeway farmer cheese highlight our company's perfect position in todays CPG landscape. Our drinkable Kiefer is significant bellwether of our business and it continues to drive trial and generate awareness for the entire sneaker category.

Also like to spotlight farmer cheese as our investment behind the cult favorite continues to pay off.

Julie Smolyansky: I'd also like to spotlight Lifeway Farmer Cheese as our investment behind the cult favorite continues to pay off. In Q4, we expanded Lifeway Farmer Cheese distribution to 2,000 Walmart stores nationwide, a game-changing milestone that dramatically increases our footprint and trial. This product is becoming a star among high-protein foods and is well-positioned to lead the trends in functional nutrition by supporting not just gut health, but also the hormonal mechanisms like GLP-1 that underpin satiation and metabolic regulation. Our retail partnerships remain very strong, and our dialogue with key partners is consistent as we continue to land incremental distribution opportunities across the channels that make sense for Lifeway. Notably, we recently extended our rotation at Costco in the San Diego region, maintaining our momentum with the Key Club partner.

Julie Smolyansky: I'd also like to spotlight Lifeway Farmer Cheese as our investment behind the cult favorite continues to pay off. In Q4, we expanded Lifeway Farmer Cheese distribution to 2,000 Walmart stores nationwide, a game-changing milestone that dramatically increases our footprint and trial. This product is becoming a star among high-protein foods and is well-positioned to lead the trends in functional nutrition by supporting not just gut health, but also the hormonal mechanisms like GLP-1 that underpin satiation and metabolic regulation. Our retail partnerships remain very strong, and our dialogue with key partners is consistent as we continue to land incremental distribution opportunities across the channels that make sense for Lifeway. Notably, we recently extended our rotation at Costco in the San Diego region, maintaining our momentum with the Key Club partner.

In the fourth quarter, we expanded lifeway farmer, chief distribution to 2000, Walmart stores nationwide a game changing milestone that dramatically increases our footprint in trial. This product is becoming a star among high protein foods and is well positioned to lead the trends and functional nutrition by supporting that just got health, but also the hormonal market.

Unlike G L. P. One that underpins association and metabolic regulation.

Our retail partnerships remain very strong and our dialogue with key partners as consistent as we continue to land incremental distribution opportunities across the channels that makes sense for lifeway, notably we recently extended our rotation in Costco in the San Diego region, maintaining our momentum with the key club partner.

We launched a number of on trend innovations in 2025, which has resonated with our customers and their evolving tastes are probiotics movies with college and continue to perform well attracting shoppers and a growing global market for collagen muscle make will soon roll out in grocery stores fitness centers in select retailers nationwide and it.

Julie Smolyansky: We launched a number of on-trend innovations in 2025, which have resonated with our customers and their evolving tastes. Our probiotic smoothies with collagen continue to perform well, attracting shoppers in a growing global market for collagen. Muscle Mates will soon roll out in grocery stores, fitness centers, and select retailers nationwide, and it is meeting growing demand, consumer demand for performance-driven functional beverages while attracting shoppers from the growing US creatine market. Most recently, drawing on our decades of cultured dairy expertise, we launched Lifeway Kefir Butter, a probiotic cultured butter that pairs indulgent flavors with functional nutrition, answering consumer demand for a premium butter that excels in taste, texture, and versatility. Butter is experiencing renewed momentum across retail, food service, and culture, both in the US and globally. Consumers today feel more comfortable enjoying high-quality dairy fat again, and retailers are responding.

Julie Smolyansky: We launched a number of on-trend innovations in 2025, which have resonated with our customers and their evolving tastes. Our probiotic smoothies with collagen continue to perform well, attracting shoppers in a growing global market for collagen. Muscle Mates will soon roll out in grocery stores, fitness centers, and select retailers nationwide, and it is meeting growing demand, consumer demand for performance-driven functional beverages while attracting shoppers from the growing US creatine market. Most recently, drawing on our decades of cultured dairy expertise, we launched Lifeway Kefir Butter, a probiotic cultured butter that pairs indulgent flavors with functional nutrition, answering consumer demand for a premium butter that excels in taste, texture, and versatility. Butter is experiencing renewed momentum across retail, food service, and culture, both in the US and globally. Consumers today feel more comfortable enjoying high-quality dairy fat again, and retailers are responding.

Meeting growing demand consumer demand for performance driven functional beverages, while attracting shoppers from the growing U S Korea and market most.

Most recently drawing on our decades of cultured dairy expertise, we launched lightweight paper butter, a probiotic cultures butter that parents indulgent flavors with functional nutrition and drink consumer demand for premium butter that excels in taste texture and versatility.

Butter is experiencing renewed momentum across retail foodservice and culture, both in the U S and globally.

Do they feel more comfortable enjoying high quality dairies out again and retailers are responding.

<unk> have opened meaningful white space and the likely keep her butter is perfectly positioned to capitalize on those trends.

Julie Smolyansky: These shifts have opened meaningful white space, and the Lifeway Kefir Butter is perfectly positioned to capitalize on this trend. A couple weeks ago at Expo West, we showcased both Muscle Mates and Kefir Butter and received extremely enthusiastic consumer and retail reactions. I'm also pleased to announce a new supply agreement and our first ever licensing deal and royalty agreement with Open Farm, which will source ingredients from Lifeway for a new premium pet food product called GoodGut. This partnership introduces Lifeway to an entirely new category where we can bring our decades of expertise in cultured dairy and probiotics to pet nutrition.

Julie Smolyansky: These shifts have opened meaningful white space, and the Lifeway Kefir Butter is perfectly positioned to capitalize on this trend. A couple weeks ago at Expo West, we showcased both Muscle Mates and Kefir Butter and received extremely enthusiastic consumer and retail reactions. I'm also pleased to announce a new supply agreement and our first ever licensing deal and royalty agreement with Open Farm, which will source ingredients from Lifeway for a new premium pet food product called GoodGut. This partnership introduces Lifeway to an entirely new category where we can bring our decades of expertise in cultured dairy and probiotics to pet nutrition.

Couple of weeks ago at Expo West, we showcased both muscle and keep her butter and received extremely enthusiastic consumer and retail reaction.

I'm also pleased to announce a new supply agreement on our first ever licensing deal in royalty agreement with open Barb, which will source ingredients from lightweight where a new premium pet food product called good got.

This partnership introduces lifeway to an entirely new category, where we can bring our decades of expertise and cultured dairy and probiotics to pet nutrition for years pet owners have trusted lifeway as part of their own wellness routines and have even shared our keeper with their pets, while we've continued supporting the pet community through convention animal World.

Julie Smolyansky: For years, pet owners have trusted Lifeway as part of their own wellness routines and have even shared our kefir with their pets while we've continued supporting the pet community through conventions, animal welfare initiatives, and relationships with leading pet nutrition experts, including certified canine nutritionist Kayla Kowalski. GoodGut is a natural extension of that relationship created in response to consumers asking for a probiotic specifically formulated for their pets. We see this as a strong start to our expansion into new categories that can help grow awareness and revenue with no extra cost to Lifeway. Throughout 2025, we also continued to build brand awareness and drive trial through strategic partnerships and experiential marketing that introduces Lifeway to new consumers. Following successful partnerships with Joe & The Juice and Erewhon, we launched a limited edition Lifeway Probiotic Sunrise Smoothie with Drugstore in November.

Julie Smolyansky: For years, pet owners have trusted Lifeway as part of their own wellness routines and have even shared our kefir with their pets while we've continued supporting the pet community through conventions, animal welfare initiatives, and relationships with leading pet nutrition experts, including certified canine nutritionist Kayla Kowalski. GoodGut is a natural extension of that relationship created in response to consumers asking for a probiotic specifically formulated for their pets. We see this as a strong start to our expansion into new categories that can help grow awareness and revenue with no extra cost to Lifeway. Throughout 2025, we also continued to build brand awareness and drive trial through strategic partnerships and experiential marketing that introduces Lifeway to new consumers. Following successful partnerships with Joe & The Juice and Erewhon, we launched a limited edition Lifeway Probiotic Sunrise Smoothie with Drugstore in November.

Their initiatives and relationships with leading pet nutrition experts, including certified canine nutritionists pilot Kowalski. Good got is a natural extension of that relationship created in response to consumer is asking for a probiotic specifically formulated for their pets. We see this as a strong start to our expansion into new categories.

Trees that can help grow awareness and revenue with no extra cost to likewise.

2025, we also continued to build brand awareness and drive trial through strategic partnership and experiential marketing that introduces lifeway to new customer consumers.

Following successful partnerships with Joe and the Jews and Erewhon, We launched a limited edition Lifeway Probiotic Sunrise smoothie with drugstore in November.

We also partnered with Berry's to watch their lightweight powerplay shake out Berry's fuel bar locations nationwide in conjunction with their find your strengths challenge.

Julie Smolyansky: We also partnered with Barry's to launch their Lifeway Power Play shake at Barry's Fuel Bar locations nationwide in conjunction with their Find Your Strength challenge. The shake, which featured organic plain whole milk kefir, delivers a protein and probiotic-packed boost to energize workouts and support recovery. This partnership ran through Barry's Find Your Strength challenge and will continue this summer with the kefir smoothie bowl bar at Barry's Hamptons Studios. These experiential retail partnerships introduce Lifeway to new consumers in innovative settings and reinforce our position as a lifestyle brand, not just a product in the dairy case, and brings influencers to create exciting content for social media. In stores, we continue to be strategic with our marketing dollars, successfully accelerating sales with prominent in-store programs that capture consumer attention at interruptive moments throughout their shopping journey. Digitally, we are propelling Lifeway into the center of viral moments.

Julie Smolyansky: We also partnered with Barry's to launch their Lifeway Power Play shake at Barry's Fuel Bar locations nationwide in conjunction with their Find Your Strength challenge. The shake, which featured organic plain whole milk kefir, delivers a protein and probiotic-packed boost to energize workouts and support recovery. This partnership ran through Barry's Find Your Strength challenge and will continue this summer with the kefir smoothie bowl bar at Barry's Hamptons Studios. These experiential retail partnerships introduce Lifeway to new consumers in innovative settings and reinforce our position as a lifestyle brand, not just a product in the dairy case, and brings influencers to create exciting content for social media. In stores, we continue to be strategic with our marketing dollars, successfully accelerating sales with prominent in-store programs that capture consumer attention at interruptive moments throughout their shopping journey. Digitally, we are propelling Lifeway into the center of viral moments.

The shake which featured organic plain whole milk keeper deliver the protein and probiotic packed booth to energize workouts and support recovery. This partnership ran through Barry Sine Your shrink challenge and we'll continue this summer with the keeper Smoothie Bowl bar at various Hampton Studios.

These experiential retail partnerships introduced lifeway to new consumers in innovative settings, and reinforce our position as a lifestyle brands not just a product in the dairy case and brings influencers to create exciting content for social media.

In stores, we continue to be strategic with our marketing dollars successfully accelerating sales with prominent in store programs to capture consumer attention and interactive moments throughout their shopping journey.

Digitally we are propelling lifeway into the center of viral moment across social platforms millions of users engage with lightweight and manage their authentic customer stories about their daily wellness benefits they get from our products.

Julie Smolyansky: Across social platforms, millions of users engage with Lifeway, and many share authentic customer stories about their daily wellness benefits they gain from our products. We continue to expand our influencer partnerships through 2025 to drive awareness of our product offerings, expand consumer knowledge of Lifeway's health benefits, and showcase recipes with Lifeway Kefir and Farmer Cheese. We'll continue to push forward with our marketing strategy in 2026 to sustain the outstanding momentum we have achieved in the past number of years. You can see that in our latest advertising campaign with Chicago Bears stars Cole Kmet and D'Andre Swift. This campaign debuted in early February ahead of the big game and was designed to highlight our market-leading protein-forward kefir, generating significant buzz across all social channels.

Julie Smolyansky: Across social platforms, millions of users engage with Lifeway, and many share authentic customer stories about their daily wellness benefits they gain from our products. We continue to expand our influencer partnerships through 2025 to drive awareness of our product offerings, expand consumer knowledge of Lifeway's health benefits, and showcase recipes with Lifeway Kefir and Farmer Cheese. We'll continue to push forward with our marketing strategy in 2026 to sustain the outstanding momentum we have achieved in the past number of years. You can see that in our latest advertising campaign with Chicago Bears stars Cole Kmet and D'Andre Swift. This campaign debuted in early February ahead of the big game and was designed to highlight our market-leading protein-forward kefir, generating significant buzz across all social channels.

We continue to expand our influencer partnerships through 2025 to drive awareness of our product offerings and expand consumer knowledge of life with health benefits and showcased recipes with lifeway keefer and farmers sheets.

We'll continue to push forward with our marketing strategy in 2020 six to sustain the outstanding momentum we have achieved in the past number of years and you can see that in our latest advertising campaign with Chicago Bears stars Colson Loveland and Dehydrates left this campaign debuted in early February ahead of the Big game and was.

Designed to highlight our market leading protein forward keeper generating significant.

Across all social channels.

In addition to our category defining performance 2025 was also a Europe tremendous industry recognition for lifeway validating our significant growth trajectory.

Julie Smolyansky: In addition to our category-defining performance, 2025 was also a year of tremendous industry recognition for Lifeway, validating our significant growth trajectory. We were recognized by Time as one of America's Growth Leaders for 2026, specifically number 2 in the food and beverage space. We were named to Inc.'s 2025 Best in Business list in the Best Challenger Brands category. We were honored as Processor of the Year by Dairy Foods. These accolades reflect the hard work and dedication of our entire team. Looking ahead to 2026, we have a lot to be excited about, and we're already off to a great start. Our Waukesha facility expansion continues to progress as planned, and we recently celebrated the ribbon cutting for phase two of our $45 million Waukesha expansion.

Julie Smolyansky: In addition to our category-defining performance, 2025 was also a year of tremendous industry recognition for Lifeway, validating our significant growth trajectory. We were recognized by Time as one of America's Growth Leaders for 2026, specifically number 2 in the food and beverage space. We were named to Inc.'s 2025 Best in Business list in the Best Challenger Brands category. We were honored as Processor of the Year by Dairy Foods. These accolades reflect the hard work and dedication of our entire team. Looking ahead to 2026, we have a lot to be excited about, and we're already off to a great start. Our Waukesha facility expansion continues to progress as planned, and we recently celebrated the ribbon cutting for phase two of our $45 million Waukesha expansion.

We were recognized by time as one of America's growth leaders for 2026, specifically number two in the food and beverage space.

We were named to Inc, 2025, best in business West and the best Challenger brands categories. We were honored a processor of the year by dairy food. These accolades reflect the hard work and dedication of our entire team.

Looking ahead to 2026, we have a lot to be excited about and we're already off to a great start.

Our Waukesha facility expansion continues to progress as planned and we recently celebrated the ribbon cutting for phase two of our $45 million Waukesha expansion.

We're on track to double our manufacturing capacity increased operational efficiencies expand production hours and staffing and solidified the Midwest position as the global hub.

Julie Smolyansky: We're on track to double our manufacturing capacity, increase operational efficiencies, expand production hours and staffing, and solidify the Midwest position as the global hub of kefir production. Phase two, which is on target for completion by the end of 2026, focuses on installing a state-of-the-art cooling system to support our fermentation and bottling operation. We also have recently strengthened our operations and supply chain teams with new talent that bring deep expertise in dairy industry and will help us continue scaling efficiency as the business grows. Our momentum continues to build as we drive sustainable, profitable growth across the business. We have laid a foundation for durable long-term value creation, and the investments we're making today in capacity, marketing, and innovation positions us exceptionally well to capitalize on the tremendous opportunities ahead.

Julie Smolyansky: We're on track to double our manufacturing capacity, increase operational efficiencies, expand production hours and staffing, and solidify the Midwest position as the global hub of kefir production. Phase two, which is on target for completion by the end of 2026, focuses on installing a state-of-the-art cooling system to support our fermentation and bottling operation. We also have recently strengthened our operations and supply chain teams with new talent that bring deep expertise in dairy industry and will help us continue scaling efficiency as the business grows. Our momentum continues to build as we drive sustainable, profitable growth across the business. We have laid a foundation for durable long-term value creation, and the investments we're making today in capacity, marketing, and innovation positions us exceptionally well to capitalize on the tremendous opportunities ahead.

Keep her production phase two which is on target for completion by the end of 2026 focuses on installing a state of the art cooling system to support our fermentation and bottling operation.

We also have recently strengthened our operations and supply chain teams with new talent that brings deep expertise in theory industry and will help us continue scaling efficiency as the business grows.

Our momentum continues to build as we drive sustainable profitable growth across the business. We have laid the foundation for durable long term value creation and the investments, we're making today in capacity marketing and innovation positions us exceptionally well to capitalize on the tremendous opportunities ahead.

With our improving production capabilities and accelerating tailwind behind consumer health and wellness, we're perfectly situated to sustain the remarkable momentum we have generated.

Julie Smolyansky: With our improving production capabilities and accelerating tailwinds behind consumer health and wellness, we're perfectly situated to sustain the remarkable momentum we have generated. We are reiterating our long-term target of $45 to 50 million in adjusted EBITDA for fiscal year 2027, and we are once again poised to deliver record-breaking sales in fiscal year 2026. Before closing, I'd like to take a moment to proudly celebrate Lifeway's 40th anniversary. For 40 years, Lifeway has been driven by a passion for cultured dairy and the powerful role it plays in modern wellness. We've grown a dream my father had when we immigrated to America into the category leader we are today. Lifeway truly symbolizes the American dream, and our authenticity and heritage are priceless. To wrap up, 2025 was truly a phenomenal year for Lifeway.

Julie Smolyansky: With our improving production capabilities and accelerating tailwinds behind consumer health and wellness, we're perfectly situated to sustain the remarkable momentum we have generated. We are reiterating our long-term target of $45 to 50 million in adjusted EBITDA for fiscal year 2027, and we are once again poised to deliver record-breaking sales in fiscal year 2026. Before closing, I'd like to take a moment to proudly celebrate Lifeway's 40th anniversary. For 40 years, Lifeway has been driven by a passion for cultured dairy and the powerful role it plays in modern wellness. We've grown a dream my father had when we immigrated to America into the category leader we are today. Lifeway truly symbolizes the American dream, and our authenticity and heritage are priceless. To wrap up, 2025 was truly a phenomenal year for Lifeway.

We are reiterating our long term target of $45 million to $50 million and adjusted EBITDA for fiscal year 2027, and we are once again quite to deliver a record breaking sales in fiscal year 2026, before closing I'd like to take a moment to proudly celebrate lightweight 40th anniversary for 40 years.

Like we have been driven by a passion for cultured dairy and the powerful role. It plays in modern wellness. We've grown the dream. My father had when we immigrated to America into the category leader we are today.

If we truly symbolizes the American dream, and our authenticity and heritage are priceless.

To wrap up 2025 was truly a phenomenal year for lifeway, we delivered record breaking sales significant gross margin expansion and exceptional net income growth.

Julie Smolyansky: We delivered record-breaking sales, significant growth margin expansion, and exceptional net income growth. We have built incredible momentum that is only accelerating as we progress through this new year. We have the right team in place, are executing at the highest level, and I'm confident in our ability to sustain these outstanding results. We remain committed to our mission of bringing best-in-class, bioavailable, probiotic, and nutritious foods to our loyal and growing customer base and look forward to updating you on our continued progress when we report our Q1 2026 results. Have a wonderful day. Thank you.

Julie Smolyansky: We delivered record-breaking sales, significant growth margin expansion, and exceptional net income growth. We have built incredible momentum that is only accelerating as we progress through this new year. We have the right team in place, are executing at the highest level, and I'm confident in our ability to sustain these outstanding results. We remain committed to our mission of bringing best-in-class, bioavailable, probiotic, and nutritious foods to our loyal and growing customer base and look forward to updating you on our continued progress when we report our Q1 2026 results. Have a wonderful day. Thank you.

We have built incredible momentum that is only accelerating as we progress through this new year.

We have the right team in place are executing at the highest level and I'm confident in our ability to sustain these outstanding results.

We remain committed to our mission of bringing best in class bio available probiotic and nutritious food to our loyal and growing customer base and look forward to updating you on our continued progress when we report our first quarter 2026 results have a wonderful day.

Yeah.

Q4 2025 Lifeway Foods Inc Earnings Call - Pre-Recorded

Demo

Lifeway Foods

Earnings

Q4 2025 Lifeway Foods Inc Earnings Call - Pre-Recorded

LWAY

Tuesday, March 17th, 2026 at 12:00 PM

Transcript

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