ContactSign inMembership

Analysis

The customer the protein aisle forgot

NIQ till data shows over-65s, not Gen Z, are driving UK protein dairy growth the brands still overlook

The Dairy Mail5 June 20269 min read

Independent analysis by The Dairy Mail. Not sponsored; the interpretation is our own.

Flat illustration of shoppers with baskets and surveillance cameras tracking a supermarket aisle

THE COTTAGE CHEESE BOOM LOOKS LIKE A TIKTOK STORY. THE CHECKOUT DATA TELLS A DIFFERENT ONE, AND SO DOES THE DEMOGRAPHIC CURVE BEHIND IT.

NIQ’s full-year UK protein dairy readout to 27 December 2025 complicates two prior pieces in this column. November’s white paper segmented the cottage cheese boom across its millennial and Gen Z shopper base. March’s GLP-1 column asked whether dairy was prepared to lead the protein conversation or let others define it. The till has now answered both, in a way few brand briefs anticipated. The shopper adding the largest single slice of incremental value to UK protein dairy is at least three decades older than the imagery on most packs.

Cottage Cheese: Who Added the Value

The cottage cheese numbers carry the cleanest illustration. Of the £37.2m of incremental value the category added in twelve months, shoppers aged 65 and over contributed £9.3m of growth, taking that age cohort to £26.1m in annual spend. The under-34s, the demographic to which the cottage cheese revival has been widely credited, added £0.8m. The category grew 200% at Tesco over two years on the back of a customer the industry was barely talking to.

The customer the protein aisle forgot

Beyond Cottage Cheese: Signals Across Protein Dairy

The same signal sits across protein dairy more broadly. Müller’s Myprotein co-branded range added £21.9m in 2025, almost half of the parent brand’s total uplift, while Müller Light, the diet-positioned product of a previous demographic moment, has been quietly slipping. Arla closed 2025 with Arla Protein volumes up 19.5% and Arla Skyr up 17.8%; chief executive Peder Tuborgh told reporters in February that protein demand was being driven by “demographic changes globally as well as consumer trends such as weight management”. The co-op’s acquisition of Volac’s whey processing facility in Wales has positioned protein as a balance-sheet priority rather than an innovation pilot.

Premium analysis

Keep reading with a free Briefing account

Briefing is free: up to three premium articles or reports a month, and the twice-monthly email briefing.

Start freeSign in

Want every premium article and report? Become a Member.

Premium analysis

You have read your three free pieces this month

Members read every premium article and report, with no monthly limit. Your free reads start again on the first of next month.

Become a MemberYour account

We could not open this article just now

Please try again in a moment. If it keeps happening, let us know.

Published by The Dairy Mail, Dairy Connect: https://www.dairy-connect.com/the-dairy-mail/the-customer-the-protein-aisle-forgot/

Reports

The reports behind the analysis.

Members read every premium article and report, with no monthly limit, and download every report as a PDF.

See the reports

Related intelligence

More in Protein & Nutrition

Selected by shared topic, then by role and recency. Independent editorial; partners and payment play no part.

Wedges and rounds of aged cheese with dark rinds stacked on a market counter

Brief · 5 min read

What the week returned

Two of the three routes out of a British dairy can be compared against a declared standard every month while the third has to be argued from first principles each time; whether that changes any capital decision is still unevidenced, and each role in the chain has one thing to do about it on Monday.

11 September 2026

Infinity symbol formed from whey protein powder, its edges breaking into dust against a pale background

Members · Analysis · 6 min read

Two routes start with a number. The third starts with an argument.

No published UK or Irish indicator isolates a protein route, so a fractionation proposal has to build its own reference case as well as prove the asset, and the board's job is to test that third route with the same discipline the butter, powder and Cheddar routes already receive.

10 September 2026

Splash of milk frozen in the shape of an infinity symbol against an orange background

Members · Analysis · 14 min read

What is a litre worth once it leaves the farm, and who decides?

The sector already values processing routes on declared assumptions for two routes and has considered a third product, yet the route retail demand is moving towards has no published comparator, so every fractionation paper reaching a board has been priced by its author.

8 September 2026