CHENANGO COUNTY – In light of what the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) says was a successful outcome across four states, the pilot program to serve Chobani Greek style yogurt in school lunches will be extend into four additional states by the 2014-2015 school year.
From September to November, 2013, Chobani Greek style yogurt was made available in school cafeterias in New York, Idaho, Tennessee and Arizona as part of the USDA’s Greek yogurt pilot program. Chobani was awarded contract as the supplier in that program in July, thanks in part to the backing of United States Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, and Congressman Richard Hanna.
According to state representatives, the program has proven an effective way of providing a good source of protein for students while also supporting New York’s booming yogurt industry. Hopes are to incorporate the Chobani brand in tens of thousands of schools at the kick-off of the 2014 school year, meaning potentially good things in store for Chobani’s production facility in Chenango County.
“Greek yogurt like Chobani is packed with healthy protein that our schoolchildren deserve access to in their school lunches,” Gillibrand stated in a media release. “New York State is home to a strong and growing Greek yogurt industry. And when we connect Chobani to lunchrooms across the state and across the country, we can give our children better access to healthy, nutritious food, while strengthening New York’s own dairy industry.”
Federal legislatures had pushed for the inclusion of Greek yogurt in school lunch programs since 2012, citing economic benefits they say would sustain New York’s title as the “Yogurt State.” New York was chosen as part of the pilot because of its thriving Greek yogurt manufacturing sector and heightened interest in the program from schools statewide.
During the recent three-month pilot program, schools across the four participating states consumed more than 200,000 pounds of Greek yogurt, worth an estimated $300,000, according to Senator Schumer.
Republican Congressman Richard Hanna, who recently visited Chenango County to help promote the local agriculture industry, said expansion of the pilot program is “an exciting opportunity for Chobani, our state’s growing Greek yogurt industry, and the hardworking Upstate dairy farmers who support it.”
“This is a nutritious and healthy option for our children, and it is great to see a New York State product leading this program,” he added.
The USDA’s decision to expand the Greek yogurt pilot program comes at an opportune time for Chobani as the company turns its attention toward the most aggressive advertising push in its seven year history.
“We're going to invest pretty heavily in raising our awareness,” Chobani Marketing Director Peter McGuinness said in a recent phone interview with The Evening Sun.
Despite Chobani’s control of more than half the Greek yogurt category, only 30 percent of households in the country have heard the Chobani name, McGuinness noted. Inclusion of Chobani product in school lunches may help change that.
“We will move pretty aggressively into marketing, which is a shift for Chobani,” he added. “When I look at 2014, I think of the best days for Chobani.”