With Rockville, Md.-based Packaged Facts estimating the dairy and dairy alternative beverage category will grow from a $23.8 billion industry in 2014 to a $31.5 billion industry by 2019 in its April report titled “Dairy and Dairy Alternative Beverage Trends in the U.S.,” more beverage-makers will be in search of contract manufacturers to support their beverage-making needs.
Jeffrey Andrews, senior director of contract manufacturing for Lynnfield, Mass.-based HP Hood, notes that the health of these markets has resulted in some customers wanting to make dairy-alternative beverages utilizing other protein sources such as nuts and plants. To help meet these needs in the dairy alternatives and dairy markets, HP Hood continues to invest in its facilities. In the past three years alone, it has invested $300 million into new equipment capabilities and systems. Additionally, the company increased its square footage, most recently at its Winchester, Va., plant.