Dannon’s Upgrade Of Utah Yogurt Factory Is Part Of Plan To Boost Sales In Western States

Dannon, the world’s largest yogurt maker, is boosting production at its plant in Utah in the hopes of gaining a bigger share of the Western U.S. market, where annual per-capita yogurt consumption currently is less  than one-sixth that of Western Europe. In a move to bolster that  strategy and triple U.S. yogurt sales to $3 billion a year, parent company Danone is also negotiating to acquire Portland, Ore.-based frozen yogurt maker YoCream. Dannon is replacing a water treatment system at the Utah plant to accommodate a 67 percent hike in production to 242 tons a year. The Utah facility, opened in 1997, originally produced bottled water but switched to yogurt in 2000. The Activia, Dannon, Light& Fit, Dan-o-nino and Danimal brands are all produced there.