Danone plans to spend $4 million to expand its facility in Fort Worth, Texas, as the dairy giant looks to keep pace with the demand for protein-packed yogurts.
The project, which is expected to be completed on Sept. 1, would increase production capabilities at a facility that makes Danimals, Activia and YoCrunch. The plant employs about 210 people.
“The expansion will increase capacity at the existing site to support the sustained growth and evolving consumer demand for our portfolio of nutrient-dense products,” a company spokesperson said in an email.
Juergen Esser, Danone’s deputy CEO and chief financial, technology and data officer, told investors last November that the dairy company is having trouble keeping up with demand as high-protein yogurts “continue to fly” off the shelves. The supply constraints also have weighed on the company’s ability to innovate.
Danone’s yogurts have been a major beneficiary of the GLP-1 boom as more consumers turn to the medications to lose weight. Yogurts are not only loaded with protein, but they are also portion-controlled and contain other nutrients needed for consumers who are eating less due to the medication.
Danone said last October that sales in its third quarter posted a like-for-like increase in North America of 1.5%, while volume/product mix rose 0.3%.
“We’re in a good position of leveraging our portfolio to satisfy the needs of those consumers,” Rafael Acevedo, president of yogurt at Danone North America, told Food Dive last January. “We believe in yogurt that we’re very well positioned to capture a lot of those opportunities.”
The multi-million-dollar expansion in Texas marks the latest investment by Danone to grow output in the last few months. Danone announced last August that an expansion and upgrade to its Minster, Ohio, yogurt facility would include more space and a new production line.
