Whole Foods Drops Chobani to Make Way for New Greek Yogurt
- Peter Lesser
- Dec 19, 2013 04:04 PM EST
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It’s a sad day for people who love buying mass produced greek yogurt at overcrowded, overpriced gourmet supermarkets. Whole Foods will no longer carry Chobani yogurt.
Chobani is the top selling greek yogurt in the U.S., but Whole Foods claims it needs to make room for other products in early 2014, Fox News reports. In part, the supermarket’s decision may be driven by their efforts to take all foods that use genetically modified ingredients off its shelves, they also strive to offer more exclusive and organic products.
The decision was not an easy one. It should not be taken lightly. Chobani is available in most markets across the country and makes nearly $1 billion in annual retail sales. But that doesn’t seem to weigh on Whole Foods’ conscience. Instead, it’s more concerned with offering its customers with the widest variety of quality products as possible and take pride in carrying unique, hard-to-find products.
"Whole Foods Market challenged its Greek yogurt suppliers to create unique options for shoppers to enjoy - including exclusive flavors, non-GMO options and organic choices," Whole Foods Market Inc. said in a statement. "At this time, Chobani has chosen a different business model."
Chobani was recently accused of using milk that comes from cows fed with GMO animal feed. Although a handful of the yogurts that remain on Whole Foods’ shelves are not organic and use ingredients from cows fed GMO products, the company claims that it’s very new and time consuming to regulate.
Stonyfield’s greek yogurt line, Brown Cow, will be replacing Chobani. “This is not anti-GMO, necessarily, this is pro-transparency,” said Stonyfield chairman and co-founder Gary Hirshberg. “This is a mega-trend out there.”
Meanwhile, Chobani is taking the loss with a kind heart. "Though we have limited distribution within Whole Foods, they have been a wonderful partner of ours over the years," Chobani said in a statement. "We know our fans love buying our products in their stores and we hope to continue our partnership moving forward."
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