La Fermière’s ready-to-eat creamy desserts are crafted with care and quality ingredients. And they are flying off the refrigerated dairy and dessert shelves.

French for the lady farmer, La Fermière’s roots date back over 70 years to Southern France. Since entering the U.S. market eight years ago, the brand has maintained a 35-40% YOY growth rate and launched multiple new products.

In 2024, La Fermière sold about 16 million ceramic pots of yogurt and oven-baked crème desserts. The brand has grown to over 6,000 stores nationwide (+2,000 in two years).

Originally from Marseille, Provence, and now a Brooklyn, New York, resident for nearly a decade, Lucas Praticci, managing director of La Fermière USA, shares more on how this European import is scaling without compromising on craft.

La Fermière is seeing sustained, double-digit growth during a challenging time for dairy processors and manufacturers – to what do you attribute your stateside success?

Our success and healthy growth in the U.S. stems from a combination of authenticity, quality and strategic focus. We stay true to our French heritage, using traditional artisanal methods and premium ingredients to deliver a truly indulgent product. That dedication to quality is what sets us apart in the yogurt and dessert aisle.

We also produce our yogurts locally, sourcing milk from carefully selected nearby dairy farms. This allows us to guarantee the rich, creamy texture that defines La Fermière, while also ensuring freshness and supporting local agriculture.

Beyond the product itself, we’ve been very intentional in our growth strategy. We don’t aim to be everywhere — instead, we focus on being in the right places, at the right time, in front of the right audience. That means a highly selective and strategic approach to distribution, guided by a deep understanding of our consumers and their expectations.

La Fermière yogurts and desserts are packaged in terra cotta or glass pots – a strategic decision – why choose this type of packaging and how does it affect your sustainability initiatives?

Our choice to use terracotta and recyclable glass pots is a reflection of the premium quality of our products. These materials elevate the overall experience, reinforcing the indulgent, artisanal positioning of La Fermière. The weight, feel, and design of the pots signal that what’s inside is special — rich, creamy, and crafted with care.

Beyond aesthetics, this packaging also supports our sustainability goals. We are committed to reducing waste by encouraging reusability. Our pots are designed to have a second life — whether as coffee cups, small containers, planters, or decorative pieces — allowing our consumers to extend their use well beyond the last spoonful.

Only natural, inert, and non-polluting materials are used to produce our terracotta pots which are made from natural clay and finished with non-toxic glazes. It reflects our commitment to both environmental responsibility and thoughtful craftsmanship.

This balance of quality, functionality and sustainability is at the heart of what we do.

On its website, La Fermière says that all-natural ingredients have been in their DNA since 1952. What about your ingredients and process sets you apart from other yogurt brands?

Since 1952, we’ve crafted yogurt and crème desserts following rigorous artisanal processes to create indulgent products with refined flavors and aromatic complexity. We carefully source our ingredients, including whole milk and cream from local farms, Grade A fruit purees, and premium Madagascar vanilla beans that are hand-cut manually to ensure exceptional quality.

We also use real honey and hand-pressed lemon juice - simple, authentic ingredients that elevate our recipes and reflect our commitment to craftsmanship. Each La Fermière yogurt and crème dessert is free from artificial colors, sweeteners, flavors, gelatin, stabilizers and preservatives. Every product is thoughtfully crafted with minimal processing and maximum care, resulting in an elevated experience with every spoonful.

Since entering the market, La Fermière has expanded its production footprint, with a facility in New York and a newly opened plant on the West Coast. Tell us more about how your products are produced?

At La Fermière, we produce our yogurts using traditional French methods that we've refined over many years at our headquarters in Marseille, France. When we expanded to the U.S., it was essential for us to maintain the same level of quality and authenticity. To do so, we equipped our New York and West Coast facilities with state-of-the-art machinery sourced from France, Italy, and Canada. This ensures both food safety and consistency with our original savoir-faire. Each of our production sites is equipped with a full processing line, including tanks, processing equipment, filling machines and packaging machinery.

Each facility operates with a team of around 15-20 employees. Our production process is intentionally hands-on; our recipes require careful preparation, attention to detail and time. This artisanal approach is part of what makes our products so unique.

On average, we process approximately 2,000 gallons of cream and 10,000 gallons of milk each week – and those numbers continue to grow steadily as demand increases. We work closely with local dairy farmers to ensure a consistent, high-quality supply of milk and cream.

You recently debuted a new Pistachio oven-baked crème dessert. What is on the horizon for La Fermière?

We have quite a bit on the horizon for the brand! We recently opened a new production facility in California, a key milestone that allows us to scale more efficiently and bring our products to more consumers across the U.S. One of our latest launches, the Pistachio oven-baked crème dessert, plays a strategic role in expanding our dessert line and helping retailers grow the dessert category within the dairy aisle.

Looking ahead to fall, we’ll be bringing back a fan favorite—our Pumpkin Spice yogurt, which will be available for a limited time. Beyond that, we’re constantly working behind the scenes to develop new flavors and explore new products that align with our brand and commitment to high-quality. Our goal is to push boundaries while staying true to our roots: always natural, always elevated.

Born in the South of France, La Fermière brings a legacy of indulgence and craftsmanship to every yogurt and dessert it creates. While we’ve grown our footprint in the U.S., our commitment to all natural ingredients and French artisanal methods remains unchanged. We take pride in offering a premium, elevated taste experience, one that’s rooted in heritage, made with care and designed to be savored.