TikTok’s protein craze is squeezing cottage cheese supplies

Cottage cheese has become one of the clearest casualties of TikTok’s protein obsession. U.S. retail sales jumped 20% in the 52 weeks ended June 15, 2025, according to Circana, after gains of about 17% in 2024 and 2023 and an 11% rise in 2022. That surge reversed a 2021 decline and turned a once-overlooked dairy staple into a hard-to-find ingredient for shoppers chasing high-protein, low-sugar foods.

The demand spike is being fed by viral recipes that recast cottage cheese as a stand-in for ice cream, pancakes, dips and cookie-dough-style desserts. The trend has also been amplified by consumers following GLP-1 diets, where protein and lower sugar counts matter more than nostalgia. In grocery aisles, the result has been familiar to anyone trying to buy the product: empty shelves, limited selections and a scramble from brands that did not plan for a sudden social-media revival.

Good Culture has publicly acknowledged that it has struggled to keep up and has apologized to customers who could not find its products. Organic Valley said its cottage cheese sales were up more than 30% in the first half of 2025 from a year earlier, and marketing manager Andrew Westrich said, “Organic Valley Cottage Cheese is selling faster than we can make it.” The bottleneck is not just a problem of demand; dairy processors cannot quickly add capacity for a product that spent years out of fashion.

Dairy consultant Mike McCully said the rush follows a long decline in cottage cheese’s popularity, which helps explain why production was lean when the craze hit. For two decades, the product had been viewed as dated, leaving the industry with fewer reasons to keep excess capacity on standby. Rebuilding supply takes time, from milk sourcing to processing lines to retail distribution, and those delays are now colliding with a wave of health-driven buying.

The shortage is also part of a broader protein-market squeeze. In June 2026, The Associated Press reported that strong global demand for high-protein products was straining whey supply and pushing whey protein prices to record levels. That wider pressure matters because cottage cheese is no longer just a supermarket relic; it has become part of the same protein economy driving gains in yogurt, powders and other dairy products, with knock-on effects now reaching consumers in the United States and Canada.