Siggi's Yogurt Looks To Grow, May Seek Another Funding Round In 2012

What’s the biggest challenge for Siggi’s Yogurt? How to remain competitive in a crowded market, while providing a healthy alternative to sugar-heavy yogurts typically found in local grocery stores.

So says Siggi Hilmarsson, who founded the company out of his Manhattan apartment in 2005. New York-based Siggi’s produces “skyr”, a type of Iceland yogurt that has two to three times more protein than a traditional yogurt. Siggi’s Yogurt is all-natural and sweetened with agave nectar instead of sugar or corn syrup or honey. Siggi’s is also more expensive, with a 5.3 oz. cup costing about $1.99, while a Dannon All-Natural 6 oz. sells for 79 cents.

But Siggi’s flavored yogurt only has 9 grams of sugar while a plain has four grams. By comparison, a Dannon All -Natural lemon flavored 6 oz. yogurt has 25 grams of sugar. A plain has 12 grams. “Americans eat way too much sugar,” says Hilmarsson, who is a graduate of Columbia Business School. “Yogurt is really healthy. At the same time, some of those health benefits get lost, because you put too much sugar in them.”

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