In a previous post, this blog introduced readers to Hamdi Ulukaya, whose success in founding the Chobani brand of "Greek-style" yogurt has earned him the title the "Steve Jobs of yogurt."
In only five years, Ulukaya -- who descends from a long line of Turkish yogurt and cheese makers -- has been able to turn Chobani into a $700 million business that employs some 1,000 workers. His brand today accounts for 53 percent of all the "Greek" yogurt sold in the United States. But Ulukaya's success is now spurring some of his bigger competitors into actions. From the Financial Times:
“This trend has been driven by smaller companies and has caught the major US yoghurt manufacturers flat-footed,” said David Driscoll, analyst at Citigroup, who downgraded General Mills because its yoghurt sales have been declining.
Executives of Dannon, which is owned by France’s Danone, said in September that the company did not anticipate the speed with which Greek yoghurt would catch on, and acknowledged that such products were “cannibalising” other types of yoghurt. The company has since stepped up marketing of its Greek yoghurt.
Don Mulligan, chief financial officer of General Mills, told the Financial Times that it would look to use its recent acquisition of Yoplait to make faster progress with its Greek yoghurt products. “There’s going to be other ways into Greek and we have a robust pipeline to drive growth in the category,” he said.
You can read more about this impending yogurt war here.
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