Chobani is pulling all its lines from the UK as it puts its foray into the British yoghurt market on ice ahead of a relaunch in 2014 or 2015.

The US yoghurt maker said it wanted to move production of Chobani yoghurts to the UK, and had decided to withdraw from the market until its UK production base was up and running. At present, all Chobani yoghurts sold in the UK are made in the US.

A withdrawal of Chobani yoghurts from UK retailers is currently under way, and the company expects all lines to be gone by January 2014. Chobani then plans to relaunch its yoghurts with British sourcing credentials within the next 12 to 14 months. “Our goal has always been to offer Chobani as a locally sourced, locally crafted and manufactured product,” a spokeswoman said. “We are currently in talks with potential partners to begin producing Chobani in the UK and hope to move forward within 12 to 14 months.”

Once British production had been established, Chobani would also be looking to open stores in the UK, similar to its Mediterranean yoghurt café in New York, she said, adding the company was already “actively looking” at properties in the UK.

“Producing locally, using only naturally sourced ingredients and being affordable high quality strained yogurt has proved tremendously successful in the US and Australia, and we have high hopes of the same result in the UK. While we transition to this model, we have decided to temporarily withdrawal product in the UK until Chobani can be crafted with pride in Britain.”

Since its UK debut last year, Chobani has struggled to emulate the success it has had in its home market of the US, where it is the market-leading Greek yoghurt brand. The company originally launched its US-made yoghurts as ‘Greek’ in the UK, but changed this to ‘strained’ after Total Greek Yoghurt owner Fage took legal action.

Earlier this year, the High Court found in Fage’s favour, but Chobani launched an appeal. It said its decision to temporarily withdraw from the UK market would have no impact on the court case, which is currently set to be heard in early December.

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