ROME, N.Y. — Greek yogurt maker Chobani will build a 1.4 million-square-foot, $1.2 billion manufacturing facility focused on natural-food production at the Triangle parcel at the Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome, the company and Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday.
“New York is where Chobani’s journey began,” Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya said in a statement. “It was the perfect spot to start Chobani 20 years ago, and it’s the perfect place to continue our story… With our new plant in Rome and our original home in South Edmeston, we’re entering a new dimension, partnering with hard-working people across the heartland of New York to build an ecosystem of natural-food production and nourish families throughout the country. When you invest in people, in local communities, you’re not just building a business, you’re building a future.”
The new Chobani facility will be capable of producing more than 1 billion pounds of dairy products annually and create more than 1,000 jobs. When at full capacity, the plant will process more than 12 million pounds of milk per day. Chobani, which opened its first plant in New York in 2005, selected the Rome site after a nationwide search.
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Hochul said that Chobani will be making the nation’s largest investment ever in a natural-food production facility.
“This is a generational win for Oneida County and the entire Mohawk Valley,” Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente, Jr. said. “We believed in the potential of the Griffiss Triangle site and invested over $6 million to make it shovel-ready because we knew it could attract a world-class partner like Chobani.”
The Triangle parcel at Griffiss was awarded more than $23 million from FAST NY last year to complete infrastructure and transportation improvements.
Chobani said it selected the site based on the skilled local workforce, including a high concentration of military veterans and college graduates, easy access to the major population of the East Coast, availability of affordable housing and Gov. Hochul’s commitment to building more affordable housing, and additional resources from the state to support the creation of new jobs.
“Through this partnership with Chobani, we’re revitalizing upstate New York’s manufacturing sector one spoonful at a time,” Hochul said. “Chobani has been a major employer in the Mohawk Valley for decades, and this massive new $1.2 billion investment will bring more than 1,000 good-paying jobs to Oneida County.”
To help facilitate the company’s investment and expansion in the Mohawk Valley, Empire State Development (ESD) has agreed to provide Chobani up to $73 million in performance-based Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits to support the creation of more than 1,000 jobs at the Rome location. Additionally, the company has pledged to collaborate with ESD to develop workforce training that aims to train and provide job opportunities at Chobani to underserved populations.
The dairy industry is the largest single segment of the state’s $8 billion agricultural industry. The state has nearly 3,000 dairy farms that produce 16.1 billion pounds of milk annually, making New York the fifth largest dairy state in the United States. New York is the largest producer of yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, and cottage cheese.
“This is tremendous news for our state and for our dairy farmers, who will be supplying milk to this state-of-the-art processing facility,” New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball said. “Chobani has long been a part of New York’s world-class dairy industry, and this feels like a real full-circle moment to welcome them to another region in our state.”
Chobani manufactures yogurt, oat milk, and creamers. Following the 2023 acquisition of coffee roaster La Colombe, the company began selling cold-pressed espresso and lattes on tap at cafes and retail ready-to-drink coffee beverages. Chobani manufactures its products in New York, Idaho, Michigan, and Australia, and its products are available throughout North American and distributed in Australia and other select markets.
