Chobani Makes Major Million Dollar Announcement

            Chobani has grown over 300% each year over the past three years, according to a Chobani Executive.  With a product that many people can't seem to get enough of, the need for expansion was obvious for Chobani.  Thursday Agro Farma announced plans to invest $100 million to build a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Twin Falls, Idaho to produce the Greek yogurt.

"The expansion will allow us to grow what's existing in our product line, we're always looking at new product lines, new items, new flavors so it'll allow us to expand in all of those areas," says Keven Bucklin, VP of Operations at Agro Farma. "Obviously we need milk all the time and we're starting to near our limit raw milk supply here on the East Coast," he says, "we need a lot of it in a short period of time." He notes, "When you have more than one location you minimize your risk in all aspects and from a transportation perspective it makes sense to feed the West Coast from the West Coast and the East Coast from the East."

Bucklin says they looked for an area with a good workforce, lots of land, and a large milk supply to expand, which they found in Idaho. But they're also continuing to expand in South Edmeston, which Bucklin says could bring more jobs to the area. The expansion in both areas is expected to continue through 2012.