Violife's chief growth officer on making plant-based cheese mainstream

Violife is trying to become the Oatly of plant-based cheese.

The brand, which launched in 2013, is part of the Greek plant-based food company Arivia. But it didn't hit U.S. shelves until 2015. Since then, Violife has taken off. It is now the number one plant-based cheese in the world -- and it continues to roll out new products to continue its growth streak.

According to Violife's global president and chief growth officer Olga Osminkina-Jones, the current strategy is to make plant-based cheese into a mainstream product.

"The category itself is truly nascent," she said.

Osminkina-Jones is a consumer brand veteran. Before joining Violife, she held vp-level roles at companies like PepsiCo, Danone and Heineken. The reason she decided to go to a plant-based food startup, she said, was "to take on a challenge like the reinvention and acceleration of a category."

And indeed that's the project ahead. So far, things seem to be working. Violife is in most major grocers and continues to launch new products. Most recently, it unveiled a new cream cheese product that could be used in baked products.

But the real hurdle isn't about shelf space, but in getting more people to try the product. In many ways, what plant-based cheese needs is an Oatly moment.

"As you look at the trajectories of such categories as plant-based milk, you can clearly see that the scale of adoption was equally propelled by the collaborations and partnerships with the right channels and customers," Osminkina-Jones said.

With that, the focus is on getting more people familiar with the product so that the overall category can continue to grow. While Violife is in a good position as the category leader, Osminkina knows there's still a lot of work ahead.

"The key here is not to run before we can walk," she said.