DAIRY PRODUCTS: I Can't Believe It's Not Yogurt

• Share

After Mike Smolyansky, 40, and Edward Puccosi, 43, emigrated from the Soviet Union, one of the things they missed most was kefir. A cultured-milk product similar to yogurt but slightly effervescent, kefir (pronounced kuh-fear in Russian) is more popular in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe than Coca-Cola is in America. So two years ago, the men, now in Chicago, set up a company called Lifeway to make and distribute kefir.

Made by fermenting milk with grain from the kefir bushes that grow in the Middle East and southern Balkans, the drink until recently was available in the U.S. only in selected East and West Coast stores. Now Lifeway distributes 5,000 quarts of kefir a day in 20 states. Last month the company went public, raising $600,000 as part of a plan to triple production. But Lifeway's founders have no thoughts of challenging yogurt giants Dannon and Yoplait. Says Smolyansky: "That's the great thing about America. There's always room for a little guy with a good product."