In past years, vegans who missed the crisp crust and melty goodness of freshly baked frozen pizza had to go without. Fortunately for those consumers, Daiya offers a range of products that help satisfy those pining for pizza who don’t want animal-based toppings on their pies.

Since Daiya first hit the plant-based scene about 16 years ago, the company has continued to innovate, including recent adjustments to its plant-based cheeses, a score of different frozen pizza varieties, and expanded production facilities to help accommodate both the increased demand and the changes. To find out more, Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery connected with John Kelly, Daiya’s chief marketing officer.

Jenni Spinner: Could you please share a bit of history about Daiya—how the company started, the products you’ve offered since the beginning, and how you’ve grown since?

John Kelly: Longtime friends for over 20 years, Daiya’s co-founders Andre and Greg bonded over their love for music, creativity, and a plant-based lifestyle. This shared passion led them to craft delicious dairy-free foods made entirely from plants, giving rise to Daiya. 

Cheddar Style and Mozzarella Style Shreds first debuted in 2009 at the Natural Products Expo West, and plant-based dairy-free innovation changed forever.

At Daiya, innovation and product development have always been at the core of what we do. What’s unique about Daiya is that we have an internal R&D team where we do a lot of testing and learning about our own products. We’re now on our 8th or 9th generation cheese formula since we first started selling cheese in 2009.  

JS: Recently Daiya made some changes in its products, starting with your popular plant-based cheeses. Could you please tell us about that? 

JK: We understand that there is consumer demand to address the challenges faced across the category. Our new fermentation capabilities will allow us to reach the consumer with a product that is closer in taste and texture to dairy cheese than any other plant-based brand. 

Daiya Oat Cream blend is the new key ingredient used in our cheeses, made with our proprietary fermentation process to deliver a smooth, creamy base that is the foundation for our dairy-free cheeses. It is different than regular oat milk that you purchase at the store or just regular oats—we take whole oats and mill them to our specifications which results in an extra fine flour, before blending with other ingredients specifically formulated to be used in our plant-based cheesemaking process, resulting in a proprietary ingredient that helps give our cheeses a dairy-like melt. 

We currently offer six delicious flavors, each made with our melt-in-your-mouth dairy-free cheese, available at major retailers across the US, which include:

• Cheese Pizza: a classic with a delicious tomato sauce featuring herby flavors that amplify the cheesiness
• Meatless Pepperoni Pizza: now with new meatless pepperoni slices that offer a spicier, meatier flavor
• Supreme Pizza: packed with a vibrant assortment of vegetables, Beyond Meat meatless sausage, and a generous layer of melted plant-based mozzarella
• Fire Roasted Veggie Pizza: topped with a blend of flavorful onions, bell peppers, roasted garlic, tomatoes, and basil, all complemented by a herby tomato sauce and dairy-free mozzarella
• Meatless BBQ Chick'n Pizza: features a smoky, tangy BBQ sauce paired with pulled plant-based chick'n-style shreds, fire-roasted tomatoes, red onions, and parsley
• Meatless Meat Lovers Pizza: loaded with Beyond Meat sausage crumbles and refreshed plant-based pepperoni slices for a hearty, satisfying taste

JS: You also made some impressive investments in your production line—whatever you can tell us about the updated plant and how the new tech/equipment you made at the bakery would be much appreciated.

JK: Pizza is the No. 1 cheesy food and is a big focus area for us. When we were building our in-house bakery, it enabled us to re-examine every major component of our pizzas and our pizza-making process to ensure that the product we offer is top-notch in quality. 

Q: What’s next for Daiya? Please feel free to tell us about new products, other expansions in the works, plans to expand into new markets, or whatever comes to mind.

JK: We’re thrilled to be unveiling two new pizzas later this year: The Meatless Spicy Salami is a dairy-free pizza that brings the heat. This flavor combines spicy meatless salami-style slices with red jalapeños, red onions, chili flakes, and melty dairy-free Mozzarella made with Daiya Oat Cream Blend—all sitting on top of a deliciously crispy thin gluten-free crust. Also coming soon to major retailers is our Cheeseburger Pizza that combines the savory, hearty flavors of your favorite burger with a deliciously modern twist—it’s dairy-free!

Related: Daiya's 90s-inspired store