Chobani, the top Greek yogurt producer in the U.S., has announced it is incrementally investing nearly $100 million to self-fund plans to increase production capacity as demand strengthens. A key part of the company’s plan is major expansion for its manufacturing facility located in Twin Falls, Idaho. Build in 2013, the $450 million facility is already the largest yogurt producing plant in the world at one million square feet. In addition, the company is also looking into plans to expand its original plant in Central New York State.

 

"Our success in Idaho and New York is an example of the power and strength of U.S. manufacturing. To food companies like ours, it's a signal of the momentum of the food movement that we started: better food for more people," said Hamdi Ulukaya, Chobani Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in a company statement.

 

As part of the expansion, Chobani plans to add new production lines to support growth in its service of foodservice outlets such as schools, hotels, airlines and restaurants, to add new equipment to facilitate the growth of adjacent products such as Chobani Meze ™, Dips, and yogurt drinks, to add production lines for Chobani Flip™, its fastest growing yogurt platform, and to expand geographically – launching products in international markets including Puerto Rico and Mexico in the second quarter of this year.

 

Chobani currently claims 19.3% market share of the overall yogurt category, and a 36.1% share of the Greek yogurt sub-category. The company receives 4 million pounds of fresh milk per day from farms across New York and Idaho, with topline sales growth up by 25% year on year.