Greek yogurt shake-up: Chobani goes Sriracha, peanut butter and jelly, and more

By Carol Wiley | December 15, 2015

Dive Brief:

• In early 2016 Chobani will launch a new line of flavors, with the goal of getting people to eat more yogurt during the day.
• The 16 new flavors include Sriracha Mango, Chipotle Pineapple, and Peanut Butter and Jelly. Other new products include a flavored Flip, five light Greek yogurt varieties, two new whole milk yogurts, and flavors including a Peppermint Flip, Apple Cinnamon, and Maple for a limited time.
• Despite the slowing growth of Greek yogurt sales, Chobani Chief Marketing and Brand Officer Peter McGuinness told BuzzFeed the company has much growth potential; approximately 60% of the country has never eaten Greek yogurt, with two-thirds never hearing of Chobani.

Dive Insight:

Greek yogurt has been critical for the industry since 2007, although its growth fell in the last year.

In 2007 Greek yogurt was only 1% of the overall U.S. yogurt market and had become over 50% of the market by 2015, according to Technavio. The company's forecast for 2015­–2019 states, "The market is expected to grow moderately in term of per capita consumption in the forecast period. Renewed efforts to tackle acidity and marketing initiatives emphasizing on health benefits will remain the key focus areas for vendors to maintain growth."

Sterling-Rice Group identifies savory yogurt as one of its culinary trends for 2016.

Last week, PepsiCo and partner Theo Muller Groupannounced they are stopping production at the Muller Quaker Dairy yogurt plant in Batavia, NY.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo were each looking into investments in Chobani, per Reuters sources, though now it's just PepsiCo. Chobani wants an investor to ramp up its supply chain, distribution, and geographic presence for its more popular yogurts.