[skindog]

It may very well happen as you say. But Lifeway is no stereotypical russian company - in fact, judging by their marketing (radio ads, packaging), which seem very 'americanized', I'd say they are adapting to our way of business really well. In food, packaging is almost as important as taste, and they have that part of the business nailed down. Their ProBugs product seems to be selling well, targeted at kids, and so are their flavored kefirs.

As far as replicating kefir, other companies can certainly do that - but kefir isn't a product like milk. I've tasted other kefirs in the Chicagoland area and imo they're not nearly as good as Lifeway's. They're in the same price range, and have worse packaging/marketing.