TCBY, the acronym by which The Country's Best Yogurt chain is better known, once ruled the yogurt-retail world, but in recent years, a lot of competition has grown up around it. Part of that competition targets “back to the earth” consumers who are more interested in going back to a more “natural” yogurt and part of that competition is simply those hoping to horn in on TCBY’s frozen-yogurt mix-in turf.

The explosion in yogurt shops just in New York City of late has been astounding, including Chobani's first standalone boutique. “There’s been a veritable war in the Village,” real-estate broker Faith Hope Consolo, a retail real-estate broker for Douglas Elliman, told the NY Observer. “It’s the fastest-growing franchise in the country.” Don’t think TCBY is taking the war lightly.Continue reading...

First Chobani came along and revolutionized the yogurt Americans eat in their homes or on the go, by mainstreaming Greek-style yogurt and creating one of the biggest phenomena in the CPG industry in years. Now enjoying its first Olympics tie-in with its Team USA sponsorship, the New York-based company wants to change the way that Americans consume yogurt with "yogurt bars."

Starting in New York, of course. Chobani just opened its first retail store, on Prince Street in SoHo, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo — who hailed a new PepsiCo yogurt plant this week in upstate New York — dispatched his lieutenant governor, Robert J. Duffy, to drop by for the store opening. The former site of a Swatch store offers plain Chobani starting at $2.75 as well as "yogurt creations" for $3.75, created by on-site "master yogurt makers."

"Governor Cuomo is proud of that fact that New York State has become the yogurt capital," Duffy commented, according to the New York Times.Continue reading...

Just because Chobani has opened up a huge lead in the Greek-style category it invented — and that is reshaping the U.S. yogurt business — doesn't mean that others can't try to chip away. Dannon has grabbed a significant share after sensing the opportunity with Chobani's rapid rise.

Other players, big and small, also are attempting to make more noise and get their stakes of a Greek-style market that has been calculated at about $1.5 billion a year now and still growing by strong double-digits — even coming up in discussions of Greece's Eurozone crisis. Yoplait, Hain Celestial and the Pinkberry chain are among the brands that are making their own plays. Ben & Jerry's just revamped its frozen yogurt line to make Greek Yogurt the basis of the line. Fage and Chobani have a friend in U.S. senator Chuck Schumer.

The most closely watched Greek yogurt brand is Yoplait. The General Mills line, which has shared the top of the U.S. yogurt market with Dannon for many years, got a particularly late start in the Greek segment. But now it's launching 40 new yogurt products, and Greek yogurt will be the centerpiece of that rollout this summer.Continue reading...

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Pinkberry, a California-based chain of yogurt stores that has rapidly expanded across America and internationally, is upping the ante with the launch of Pinkberry Catering.

In addition to serving up premium frozen yogurt in some 95 locations worldwide, Pinkberry now delivers yogurt and customized toppings for any occasion at select locations in the U.S. and Mexico.

Consumers can order online, choosing from a variety of yogurt flavors and sizes and then create their own "topping bar" by selecting from more than 30 toppings. Pinkberrry will drop off the order at the desired time, set up a serving station and offer guests "the full Pinkberry experience," for the first time beyond its retail locations.Continue reading...