PURCHASE, N.Y., July 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE: PEP) and Theo Muller Group ("Muller"), the largest privately held dairy business in Germany, announced today their U.S. joint venture, Muller Quaker Dairy, will enter the growing U.S. dairy market in mid-July with innovative premium yogurt products that have never before been available to U.S. consumers. These products -- Muller™ Corner™, Muller™ Greek Corner™ and Muller™ FrutUp™-- mark the first entry by either PepsiCo or Muller™ into U.S. dairy aisles.
To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pepsico-and-germanys-theo-muller-group-to-enter-us-dairy-market-with-european-style-premium-yogurt-161724095.html
Together, PepsiCo and Muller will complement each other's strengths and are expected to drive growth for both companies:
Muller Quaker Dairy also will satisfy the increasing demand for value-added dairy products in the U.S., where variety and innovation within the category lags behind other regions, especially Europe. U.S. consumption of yogurt and other value-added dairy products is generally less than half that of Europe*.
The following yogurts will be sold through supermarket and club retailers in 17 markets in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic U.S. starting this summer**:
"As we've seen through the success of our dairy business in other parts of the world, this is a category with strong growth prospects," said Mehmood Khan, M.D., PepsiCo chief scientific officer, global research & development. "Muller makes some of Europe's most delicious and unique dairy products, and there is no better partner PepsiCo could have in order to meet historic U.S. consumer demand for premium yogurt. With the name recognition and trust Quaker provides, together, we will be able to offer U.S. consumers an amazing range of products that taste delicious and are unlike anything on the market currently."
"Our partnership with PepsiCo is a great expansion of our business, and we are excited to introduce new consumers to the wide variety of deliciously enjoyable yogurts that have made Muller a household name throughout Europe," said Stefan Muller, Theo Muller Group, member of the board. "Our capabilities in yogurt and other value-added dairy products, combined with the strength of PepsiCo's distribution systems, deep consumer insights, diverse portfolio of brands and expertise in areas like fruits and grains, will open the door to new options we think consumers are going to love."
Worldwide, the dairy category is expected to grow more than any other through 2016, exceeding the growth of the next two food and beverage categories combined*. This growth is driven by the progressively increasing consumer demand for packaged milk, yogurt and other value-added dairy products, and for other products containing dairy protein, probiotics, and calcium.
PepsiCo already holds a strong position in the global dairy products business. The company acquired Wimm-Bill-Dann, Russia's largest dairy company, in 2011 and has been part of a successful joint venture with Almarai, Saudi Arabia's largest dairy company, since 2009. PepsiCo has a previously stated goal of growing its global nutrition portfolio to $30 billion in revenue by 2020.
Investing in the Future of Upstate New York
The joint venture is building a new, state-of-the-art yogurt manufacturing plant in Batavia, N.Y. Once completed in 2013, it will be one of the largest yogurt plants in the U.S., and is expected to create more than 180 new jobs in upstate New York.
*Source: Euromonitor 2011 data
** Markets where Muller Quaker Dairy yogurt will be available: New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Hartford/New Haven, Providence/New Bedford, Buffalo, Albany/Schenectady/Troy, Rochester, Portland, Baltimore, Harrisburg, Norfolk/Portsmouth, Greensboro, Wilkes Barre/Scranton, Richmond, Roanoke.
About Theo Muller Group
Headquartered in Luxembourg, the Theo Muller Group is a holding company whose subsidiaries include a multinational dairy business. The Muller brand originates in Bavaria, Germany and has been producing popular yogurt and other products for more than 100 years. Founded as a family dairy farm in 1896 by Ludwig Muller, today his grandson Theo owns the hugely successful business.
Under the management of CEO Heiner Kamps and members of the board Stefan Muller and Dr. Henrik Bauwens, the Theo Muller Group companies generate annual revenues of approximately $5 billion and have nearly 21,000 employees. http://www.muellergroup.com.
About PepsiCo
PepsiCo is a global food and beverage leader with net revenues of more than $65 billion and a product portfolio that includes 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in annual retail sales. Our main businesses – Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola – make hundreds of enjoyable foods and beverages that are loved throughout the world. PepsiCo's people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth by investing in a healthier future for people and our planet, which we believe also means a more successful future for PepsiCo. We call this commitment Performance with Purpose: PepsiCo's promise to provide a wide range of foods and beverages for local tastes; to find innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment by conserving energy and water and reducing packaging volume; to provide a great workplace for our associates; and to respect, support and invest in the local communities where we operate. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.
About The Quaker Oats Company
The Quaker Oats Company, headquartered in Chicago, is a unit of PepsiCo. For more than 130 years, Quaker's brands have served as symbols of quality, great taste and nutrition. Holding No. 1 positions in their respective categories, Quaker Oats, Quaker Rice Cakes and Quaker Chewy Granola Bars are household favorites. www.quakeroats.com.
PepsiCo Cautionary Statement
Statements by PepsiCo in this communication that are "forward-looking statements" are based on currently available information, operating plans and projections about future events and trends. Terminology such as "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "project," "anticipate," "will" or similar statements or variations of such terms are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such terms. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted in such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: changes in demand for PepsiCo's products, as a result of changes in consumer preferences and tastes or otherwise; PepsiCo's ability to compete effectively; unfavorable economic conditions in the countries in which PepsiCo operates; damage to PepsiCo's reputation; PepsiCo's ability to grow its business in developing and emerging markets or unstable political conditions, civil unrest or other developments and risks in the countries where PepsiCo operates; trade consolidation or the loss of any key customer; changes in the legal and regulatory environment; PepsiCo's ability to build and sustain proper information technology infrastructure, successfully implement its ongoing business transformation initiative or outsource certain functions effectively; fluctuations in foreign exchange rates; increased costs, disruption of supply or shortages of raw materials and other supplies; disruption of PepsiCo's supply chain; climate change, or legal, regulatory or market measures to address climate change; PepsiCo's ability to hire or retain key employees or a highly skilled and diverse workforce; failure to successfully renew collective bargaining agreements or strikes or work stoppages; failure to successfully complete or integrate acquisitions and joint ventures into PepsiCo's existing operations; failure to successfully implement PepsiCo's global operating model; failure to realize anticipated benefits from our productivity plan; any downgrade of our credit ratings; and any infringement of or challenge to PepsiCo's intellectual property rights.
For additional information on these and other factors that could cause PepsiCo's actual results to materially differ from those set forth herein, please see PepsiCo's filings with the SEC, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. PepsiCo undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
SOURCE PepsiCo, Inc.