How Hot is Greek Yogurt? Check Out Chobani Soho, Pinkberry Baubles

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.

Meanwhile, another growing brand in its own right, Pinkberry, is also testing Greek yogurt in a quick-serve setting, adding plain Greek yogurt to the menu of 17 Pinkberrys across the United States. Los Angeles-based Pinkberry is known for its fresh and tangy frrozen yogurt in seasonal flavors and a variety of tasty toppings.

"We think it's a very natural evolution and progression," CEO Ron Graves said of entering the Greek yogurt market, according to USA Today. "We've always been about yogurt and about fresh."

And, lest we forget, jewelry — Pinkberry's tangy taste has inspired a new line of baubles, a limited-edition collaboration with Sorrelli to celebrate its foray across the East River into Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood. Take a closer look here.

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