Dive Brief:
- Dannon Co. and Starbucks' partnership has hit grocery stores with Evolution Fresh Greek Yogurt, which is Dannon's mildest Greek yogurt and comes in four fruit-on-the-bottom flavors.
- With this product, Dannon is entering the premium yogurt market for the first time, a market that makes up about 5% to 10% of the category.
- Dannon is hoping to drive more yogurt consumption in the U.S., which lags behind the consumption that Paris-based Danone SA, Dannon's parent company, sees in Europe.
Dive Insight:
Greek yogurt continues to be at the top of its game with nearly half of the yogurt market as of last year, so it's no surprise that yogurt brands like Dannon are creating more Greek varieties to capitalize on consumers' growing interest in the calcium and protein-packed cousin of traditional yogurt. An industry feeling the pain from Greek yogurt's meteoric rise is cold cereal and other breakfast foods that are being challenged or even replaced in consumers' homes by an option some feel is more nutritious.
One way for cereal brands to avoid further falling sales has been partnerships with yogurt brands, such as Kellogg and YoCrunch's YoCrunch Cereal Bowl line, which includes Greek yogurt varieties.