PepsiCo Inc. and one of Germany”™s largest privately held dairy companies announced a new joint venture July 9 to introduce premium yogurt products in U.S. markets.
The Purchase-based PepsiCo and Theo Muller Group launched Muller Quaker Dairy, and plan to begin introducing yogurt products later this month.
The planned products, Muller Corner, Muller Greek Corner and Muller FrutUp, represent the first entry by either company into the U.S. consumer dairy product business. They will initially be sold in 17 markets in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, including New York, Boston, Philadelphia and the Hartford-New Haven market.
Mehmood Kahn, PepsiCo”™s chief scientific officer for global research and development, said in a statement that the dairy business represents a “category with strong growth prospects.”
In a separate announcement, PepsiCo said July 10 it would open a new food manufacturing facility in Wuhan, China. The plant will be PepsiCo”™s sixth in the Greater China Region, and will be the company”™s first China facility to be built in line with the U.S. Green Building Council”™s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.
The plant will be equipped to produce roughly 15,000 tons of Frito-Lay potato chips annually. Frito-Lay represents China”™s top-selling chip brand, PepsiCo said.
