Chobani yogurt
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Word-of-mouth buzz and social media rather than big advertising--the company has aired only a single ad campaign--have been a boon for the segment. At Chobani HQ, in New Berlin, N.Y., the walls are decorated with consumers' unsolicited Twitter love notes. "Consumers are sharing the fact that they like this product," says Hale. That's especially true of women, he says, who drive 63% of grocery sales and like that even expensive yogurt seems cheap compared with other health foods. Greek yogurt's popularity among celebrity chefs and its frequent cameos on cooking shows haven't hurt. "There really was a need for a nice, thick, rich, simple ingredient in a plain flavor," says Susan Stockton, who oversees recipes at the Food Network. Stockton views Greek yogurt's popularity as part of a larger trend: Americans expanding their palates, venturing away from sweets toward sours. She believes the versatility of Greek yogurt--which can substitute for sour cream and mayonnaise--will help guarantee its status as a staple.
Of course, American tastes are fickle, and health fads come and go. Chobani is hedging its bets with fruity flavors that pack in nearly as much sugar as the old fruit-on-the-bottom yogurts. "People were adding their fruit, their cereal, their honey," Ulukaya says of his early days in the business, so why not give it to Americans ready-packed? "That's the way yogurt is enjoyed here," he says.
The Chobani-led boom has inspired other small creameries in New York State, where dairy farms abound, New York City consumers are close by and local governments are doling out incentives to promote the industry. Local producers have benefited from the presence of Chobani's and Fage's New York plants, since it takes much more milk to produce Greek yogurt than the regular stuff. About three hours from Chobani, a couple running a fourth-generation dairy farm is crafting its own whole-milk Greek yogurt with local flavor: maple syrup from a neighbor's farm. "We have customers who call it 'crack yogurt,'" says Marge Randles, who works 15-hour days with her husband. They've been making their Argyle Cheese Farmer products for five years. "We got on the wave early," says Randles, who targets foodies at farmers' markets and farm-to-table restaurants that will pay higher prices for something niche and exotic.
Lagging brands like Yoplait have also gone Greek to boost profits, and Dannon's Greek yogurt is gaining speed. So far Ulukaya has stayed ahead; he recently invested $250 million in a sprawling plant in Idaho to better access customers across the country. He believes that if the U.S. is still spending just one-third the amount Western Europe spends on yogurt, there's plenty of room to grow alongside other brands. "We believe that the yogurt story in this country hasn't even started yet," he says. "This is a product like bread and cheese ... You must have it. You'll always have it."