Yogurt Is The New Measuring Stick At General Mills

For years for Americans, buying yogurt meant buying Yoplait or Dannon.

That all changed in 2007 when a tiny company called Chobani entered the market with a new, old product: Greek yogurt. Instead of a snack or side item at breakfast, the higher protein levels in Greek yogurt made it a worthy meal. Chobani quickly grew while the incumbent yogurt giants, skeptical of the new product’s staying power, were slow to react.

Yoplait’s maker, General Mills, was exceptionally slow.

The Golden Valley-based packaged foods giant went from 30 percent of the yogurt segment five years ago to about 20 percent as of May, with the last 10 months seeing sharp declines, according to Nielsen data provided in a Bernstein Research report.

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