When Sultan Al Suwaidi first tasted kefir, a fermented drink, while serving as a military attaché in Italy nearly two decades ago, he was not thinking about starting a dairy business. After returning to the UAE, he simply wanted to recreate a drink he had come to enjoy and in 2010, he began making kefir for his own consumption using milk from his farm.
When his diplomatic career concluded after serving as the UAE’s ambassador to Cyprus, Al Suwaidi returned home and expanded the venture, opening a second farm in Al Hiyar alongside his original farm in Liwa to increase production.
Today, the farm produces buffalo and goat milk, kefir, cheeses, and free-range eggs—products he says were always driven more by personal conviction than commercial ambition. Despite more than a decade of production, Al Suwaidi admits the business has never turned a profit. Rising feed costs, the relatively low milk yield of buffalo compared with cows and the expense of maintaining traditional production methods have kept margins slim. Yet he has never considered walking away.
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“I didn’t start making kefir because it was fashionable, I started because I enjoyed drinking it,” he said. “I never thought of it as a business. At first, it was purely for my own consumption. When production increased, I decided to start selling the surplus.”
At his Free Range Farm in Al Hiyar, buffalo calves rest in shaded pens beside their mothers, an important part of the milking routine because the animals need to see their young before releasing milk. Nearby, goats and their kids are housed separately. As visitors approach, the mother goats hurry towards the enclosure, bleating insistently as though calling out to their offspring before settling back into the rhythm of the farm.
Long-time kefir drinkers
Inside, fresh milk begins the careful fermentation process that transforms it into kefir, a drink once unfamiliar to many UAE residents but now increasingly finding a place in supermarket refrigerators alongside laban and yoghurt.
Al Suwaidi’s experience reflects that of many long-time kefir drinkers in the UAE.
For Serbian expatriate Ognjen Kukic, finding kefir once required patience and creativity. Before locally produced options became available, he and his wife, Jelena, regularly made their own at home using kefir grains shared within the community.
“It was the only way to have authentic kefir whenever we wanted it,” he said. “Now it’s much easier. We simply buy it from the supermarket.”
Emirati resident Abdullah Al Shamsi, 41, said he began drinking kefir years ago after learning about its potential digestive and gut-health benefits.
“For years, I could only find imported kefir in international supermarkets such as Spinneys. Then I discovered Free Range Products on Muroor Street, which brings it directly from the farm in Al Hiyar. Since then, that’s where I’ve been buying it.”
While kefir remains a relatively small category compared with traditional drinking yoghurt, more local producers are entering the market as consumer demand grows. Al Ain Farms recently became one of the latest companies to launch a locally produced kefir range, saying rising consumer interest in functional fermented foods and gut health made this the right time to enter the market.
The launch comes as demand for functional fermented foods continues to rise across the region, with the UAE kefir market projected to reach $23.1 million by 2030.
Milana Boskovic, Chief Marketing and R&D Officer at Al Ain Farms Group, said interest in kefir has expanded well beyond communities where it has traditionally been consumed.
“Consumers today are much more engaged with what they’re eating than they were before,” she said. “They’re reading ingredient labels more carefully and taking an interest in gut health and foods that support their overall wellbeing.”
She said the UAE’s kefir market is now worth almost Dh50 million and includes around 18 brands, while the category already accounts for about eight per cent of the value of drinkable yoghurt.
Boskovic said the UAE’s long-standing familiarity with fermented dairy products such as laban has also helped consumers embrace kefir more readily.
“We’re seeing growing interest from consumers with no prior history of kefir coming to it through the gut health conversation,” she said. “They’re curious about the science of it as much as the taste.”
Archana Baju, Head of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics at Burjeel Hospital Abu Dhabi, said kefir’s growing popularity reflects a broader shift in how consumers think about nutrition.
“People are becoming much more aware of the role the gut microbiome plays in digestion, immunity and overall wellbeing,” she said. “Many consumers also prefer obtaining probiotics through food rather than supplements.”
Unlike conventional yoghurt or laban, kefir is traditionally fermented using a combination of bacteria and yeasts, creating a broader variety of probiotic microorganisms, although the exact composition varies between products.
Research suggests kefir may help support gut health and digestive comfort in some people, but Baju cautioned that it should not be viewed as a miracle food.
“It should be considered one part of a balanced diet rather than a substitute for medical treatment,” she said, adding that overall dietary quality remains far more important than any single food.
She also noted that while kefir can be a healthy addition to most people’s diets, those with severely weakened immune systems, people undergoing chemotherapy or those with certain digestive conditions should consult a healthcare professional before consuming probiotic foods regularly.
Today, as locally produced kefir becomes easier to find and more consumers discover fermented foods through the growing focus on gut health, the drink Al Suwaidi once struggled to find in the UAE has finally found a wider audience.
Source: Khaleej Times