Yogurt and creamers maker Chobani has injected $1.2bn into a new production facility, marking its third manufacturing plant in the US.
The new plant, set to cover 1.4 million square feet, will be situated in Rome, a city in Oneida County, New York.
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In a statement, Chobani said it “broke ground” on the site as of yesterday (22 April). Just Food has asked the group to confirm when it expects construction to be complete.
The new facility will produce over one billion pounds of dairy products annually, the company said.
It will also have capacity for up to 28 production lines capable of processing around 12 million pounds of milk per day.
Just Food has asked Chobani to confirm which specific products will be produced at the Rome location.
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By GlobalDataThe new facility will be situated roughly 70km north of South Edmeston, New York, where the business established its first plant in 2005.
Founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya said: “New York is where Chobani’s journey began. It was the perfect spot to start Chobani 20 years ago, and it is the perfect place to continue our story.”
More than 1,000 full-time jobs will be created at the new site.
A separate statement from New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s office said the $1.2bn cash injection was “the largest natural food manufacturing investment in American history”.
New York state’s economic development agency Empire State Development has committed up to $73m in performance-based Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits to Chobani to support the development.
According to Hochul’s office, New York’s dairy industry, valued at $8bn, is the largest segment of the state’s agricultural sector.
With roughly 3,000 dairy farms producing 16.1 billion pounds of milk annually, New York ranks as the fifth largest dairy state in the US.
Chobani said it is “one of the largest buyers of raw milk in the state,” purchasing over a billion pounds of raw milk from New York farms each year.
Once fully operational, the new plant is expected to increase this to an estimated six billion pounds a year.
This investment follows Chobani’s announcement of a $500m expansion at its Twin Falls, Idaho facility, which will boost production by 50%.
Described by Chobani as “the largest natural food production facility in the country,” the Twin Falls site produces yogurt, oat milk, and coffee creamers.
