Their bet: "people still care about protein, but now they're caring a lot more about gut health." The industry, led by Chobani, trained consumers to ask "how much protein is in your yogurt?" — Sourmilk thinks the next iteration of yogurt has to include both protein and bacteria.
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The founders point to the Chobani case study: Chobani made Greek yogurt mainstream, moving it from "the sort of sugary, random thing" or an ethnic grocery store into Walmart and Target, and "since then there's been a huge focus on protein." Whenever Elan speaks to customers, "the first question they ask is how much protein is in your yogurt" — proof the industry "trained the consumer to care about protein and not about probiotics." Their bet: "people still care about protein, but now they're caring a lot more about gut health," so "the next iteration of what yogurt will look like... will have to include protein and bacteria." They see a broader trend "back towards whole animal products and just the outer aisles of a grocery store" — five to ten years ago "there wasn't really a market for a new dairy yogurt," but health awareness and the processed-ness of soy, oat and almond alternatives have pushed a trend back toward dairy.