Friday, 12 August 2011

Places: France/The History of... Yoplait.


Sourced from the Wikipedia page 'Yoplait'...because I live dangerously...

Yoplait is a brand of yogurt produced by a company owned by two French holdings, SODIAAL and PAI Partners.

History

In 1964, 100,000 French farmers merged their regional dairy cooperatives to sell nationally. In 1965, two co-ops, "Yola" and "Coplait", merged, becoming "Yoplait". Their logo is a six-petaled flower designed by Phlippe Morlighem, each petal representing one of the six main cooperatives founders. According to the logo image above, the flower now only has five petals.
On May 18, 2011, General Mills announced it had agreed to purchase a controlling interest in Yoplait SAS.

World franchises

In the United States, General Mills is the franchisee of Yoplait pre-stirred yogurt. Products are available in a variety of fruit-based flavors that come in a nearly cylindrical container sealed with an aluminum foil top. The yogurt is described on its company’s homepage as "delicious blended creaminess." Another tagline used in an early 1990s TV ad campaign asked consumers, “Why dip a spoon into anything less?” Under the Yoplait label, General Mills also markets Trix Yogurt, based on the flavors of their breakfast cereal of the same name, and Go-Gurt, where various flavors are packaged in plastic tubes for spoonless eating; these brands are targeted to children. A pro-biotic line of yogurt which features ingredients to aid digestion and fitness is marketed under the brand name Yo-Plus.
In Canada, Ultima Foods markets pre-stirred Yoplait yogurt, Minigo, Tubes, Source, Creamy, Delicieux, Yop, Yoplait Basket, Yoptimal and Asana. In 1971, the Coopérative agricole de Granby, which went on to become the largest dairy cooperative in the country—Agropur—launched the Yoplait brand in Canada. In 1993, Agropur and Agrifoods (the two largest dairy cooperatives in Canada) combined their yogurt and fresh cheese marketing and manufacturing activities to form Ultima Foods, which presently oversees the Yoplait brand products, nationwide.
In the United Kingdom, Yoplait UK Ltd is now 100% owned by Yoplait France. In April 2009 the joint venture between Yoplait and Dairy Crest ended. Yoplait UK Ltd is based in Dairy Crest's head office, Claygate House in Surrey United Kingdom. Tubed yogurts are called Frubes (portmanteau of fruit and tube) in the UK.
The franchise in Norway is held by Fjordland.
In Ireland, Glanbia controls the Yoplait franchise. The name Glanbia is a portmanteau of the Irish words for clean (glan) and food (bia).
In Mexico, the Yoplait brand is managed by Sigma Alimentos, and in Chile by Quillayes.
In Portugal, Yoplait is run under Gelgurte, Portugal’s primary dairy group.
In the Republic of Korea, the Yoplait brand is managed and manufactured by Binggrae.
Yoplait in Israel is managed by Tnuva, Israel's largest dairy, and products are kosher. The company's drinkable yogurt comes in an innovative 100g shot-style bottle with a center opening for easy gripping. Yoplait brand flavored yogurts account for 42–52% of the Israeli market. Tnuva and Yoplait entered into a partnership to set up production facilities in Romania in 2007. In 2009, Tnuva introduced a 500-gram family-size yogurt called Yoplait YYY that comes in resealable containers.

Community involvement

In the U.S., Yoplait participates in an annual program called “Save Lids to Save Lives” to raise money for breast cancer research. Yoplait donates ten cents per pink foil lid that is mailed to the company. This money is donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Yoplait has been the primary sponsor of Race for the Cure, a marathon held to raise additional research money, since 2001. The American franchise of Yoplait added a rim on the bottom of the yogurt containers to keep animals such as skunks from accidentally getting their heads caught. A label was added to the container stating: “Protect Wildlife: Crush Cup Before Disposal.”

*I won't lie...one of the main reasons for researching the 'Yoplait' brand, for me, was my undying love of YOP drink. It cannot be beat.

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