Whole Foods Testing Lifeway’s Starfruit Kefir Kiosks

A Whole Foods Market store in the Boston area is the venue for a test of a new kiosk concept from Lifeway Foods Inc., a supplier of the cultured dairy products kefir and organic kefir. If the test proves successful, the concept, which involves Lifeway’s Starfruit soft-serve frozen kefir and smoothies, could soon expand to other retail settings.

Customers can now try the kefir-based products at a café within the Whole Foods in Wellesley, Mass., which also offers a range of healthy toppings. Starfruit Signature Smoothies flavors available in the store are Berry Good 4U, The Diva, Breakfast Blast and Reloaded. Morton Grove, Ill.-based Lifeway will soon mark Whole Foods-sponsored EarthFest in Boston on May 19 by offering the all-natural, probiotic-packed items to attendees. The company already passed out product samples at the recently run Boston Marathon.

“Our Starfruit soft serve complements our already popular frozen kefir pints, and offers instant gratification to shoppers,” noted Julie Smolyansky, president and CEO of Lifeway, which launched Starfruit Café in 2008. “This is the first time Starfruit has been offered outside of Chicago [at five branded retail locations], and we expect a great response.”

Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods operates about 315 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.