Plant based, doubled turnover for Dreamfarm's cheese alternatives
The growth strategy of the company specialising in almond products focuses on expanding distribution and international expansion
Dreamfarm closed 2025 with a turnover of EUR 1.8 million, more than doubling the previous year's results when it stopped at EUR 800,000. The benefit company founded in Sala Baganza (Parma) by Mattia Sandei and Maddalena Zanoni, with CEO Giovanni Menozzi, confirms itself as protagonist of plant-based growth in Italia.
In the heart of the Food Valley, the company has developed an innovative approach to vegetable alternatives to cheese, starting with almonds through a natural fermentation process covered by a European patent. "We were the main player contributing to the growth of the category, which grew by about two million. Of this, over one million is due to us,' explains Menozzi. A significant result that places Dreamfarm in fourth place in the category, but first in terms of contribution to 2025 growth.
"The NielsenIQ data, in fact," emphasises Menozzi, "confirm the positive market trend: the category of vegetable alternatives to cheese reached EUR 16 million at retail in the Iper + Super channels, up from over EUR 13 million the previous year. Dreamfarm's success is based on a multi-channel strategy that has seen the significant expansion of distribution in Italia. From 2024, when it was present in Esselunga and some Conad cooperatives, the company added Alì, Iperal, Conad Nord-Ovest, Coop Alleanza and the Megamark Group in 2025, thus strengthening its presence in the Centre-South.
The product range now counts six references for retail: mozzarella in its preserving liquid, stracciatella, ricotta, spreads in two flavours, mozzarella and ciliegine. "The product we are best known for, for which we also have a European patent, is the alternative to mozzarella," the managing director points out. In addition to these, there is a mozzarella in string format dedicated to the food service sector, a channel that accounts for about 10% of turnover against 90% for retail.
Current production capacity exceeds 150 tonnes per year, with ample room for growth thanks to a single production shift and only one active line of the two available at the plant. On the international front, Dreamfarm is present in some of the major European chains such as Albert Heijn in the Netherlands, Delhaize in Belgium and Monoprix in France, the latter with an expansion planned in March from a few shops to 300 outlets.
