Muller Yogurt Plant in Batavia Closes

A yogurt plant in Batavia that opened to great hoopla and was one of the plants in the yogurt boom in New York state is closed.

The Associated Press reported PepsiCo Inc. and German dairy giant Theo Muller Group ended production Thursday. The plant opened in 2013.

Officials said the plant didn't meet expectations in a competitive and dynamic marketplace.

The Associated Press states national milk marketing cooperative Dairy Farmers of America has agreed to purchase the Muller Quaker Dairy, co-op spokeswoman Monica Massey said Thursday. She said the cooperative is exploring several milk handling and manufacturing options for the plant.
 
The Associated Press says about 64 of the plant's 170 jobs are expected to be cut and transition assistance will be offered. He said the others are expected to be retained by the dairy cooperative.
 
New York has been the top U.S. yogurt producer for several years because of the booming Greek yogurt sector. Other plants in the state are run by Chobani, Fage and Byrne.

The Muller plant was mentioned as one of the success stories in the Finger Lakes region proposal for Gov. Andrew Cuomo's recent economic development competition called Upstate Revitalization Initiative.

It was announced Thursday -- the same day the plant closed -- that the Finger Lakes region was one of three winners in the state economic development competition. The region will receive $500 million over five years for projects in the area.

Muller yogurt has been a popular brand in Europe for more than a century. Muller products including dessert-inspired flavors like Raspberry Brownie Supreme and Dulce de Leche Delight will disappear from U.S. shelves after current stocks are sold, the PepsiCo spokesman told the Associated Press.

June is Dairy Month -- Another Yogurt Factory Opens in NYS

On just the third day of Dairy Month, New York welcomed the newest yogurt factory to the Empire State.

The official grand opening for the new Müller yogurt plant in Batavia was conducted Monday.

Müller, a yogurt brand that originated in Bavaria, Germany, has made all of its yogurt at Müller’s production facility in Leppersdorf, German before opening the Batavia plant.

The brand has been available in Europe for more than 100 years, but now is sold in the United States through cooperation with Quaker. Muller Quaker Dairy LLC in Batavia is a joint venture between PepsiCo, Inc. and the Theo Muller Group.

The Muller facility in Batavia. Photo from Muller Facebook page

Müller is sold now in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, but will be expanding its sales to other parts of the U.S. According to the company, the new facility was built on 82 acres and is one of the country's largest yogurt manufacturing plants and is expected to create more than 180 new jobs.


Muller Quaker Dairy entered the U.S. dairy market in July 2012 with premium yogurt products such as Muller^® Corner^®, Muller Greek Corner^® and Muller FrütUp™, which all offer yogurt with add-ins you can flip, stir or dip.

The opening of the Müller plant will add to New York state's lead in the nationwide production of yogurt.

In April, Gov. Andrew Cuomo stated New York had taken the lead in yogurt production when the state's processors made 692 million pounds of yogurt in 2012 compared to 587 million pounds made in California.

In 2011, California processors made 627 million pounds of yogurt compared to 554 million pounds in New York. Cuomo also reported that in the last five years, New York's yogurt plants have nearly tripled in production, and milk production on farms grew by more than 1 billion pounds.

Go to http://mullerquaker.com/where-to-buy and click on New York state to find out where to buy Müller yogurt locally. Go to https://vine.co/v/b361KIiWZIb to see an event during the grand opening at the Batavia plant.