Tough Sell: An American Yogurt in Paris
from the NY Times
By ANDREW MARTIN
Published: May 12, 2007
The Danone Group has enjoyed great success by selling French yogurt to Americans. Now the company is turning to an American to introduce organic yogurts in Europe, starting in France, a country that doesn’t normally look across the Atlantic for culinary advice.
Gary Hirshberg, the head of Stonyfield Farm, has built a yogurt empire by tirelessly promoting the virtues of organic food. Now that Stonyfield’s parent company, the Danone Group, has asked him to take his show on the road, he is about to see how well his message translates.
“It’s obviously very audacious to go to France and talk about improving their food offerings,” he said.
But at the insistence of Danone’s chairman and chief executive, Franck Riboud, Mr. Hirshberg introduced a line of products in September meant to tap into the growing demand for organic food in France, particularly in urban markets. The yogurt, called Les 2 Vaches des Fermiers du Bio (the two cows of organic farmers), comes with chatty cartoon cows on the packages and a Web site full of thoughts about planetary health.
go to http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/12/business/worldbusiness/12yogurt.html?_r=1&n=Top%2fNews%2fWorld%2fCountries%20and%20Territories%2fFrance&oref=slogin
for the complete story
By ANDREW MARTIN
Published: May 12, 2007
The Danone Group has enjoyed great success by selling French yogurt to Americans. Now the company is turning to an American to introduce organic yogurts in Europe, starting in France, a country that doesn’t normally look across the Atlantic for culinary advice.
Gary Hirshberg, the head of Stonyfield Farm, has built a yogurt empire by tirelessly promoting the virtues of organic food. Now that Stonyfield’s parent company, the Danone Group, has asked him to take his show on the road, he is about to see how well his message translates.
“It’s obviously very audacious to go to France and talk about improving their food offerings,” he said.
But at the insistence of Danone’s chairman and chief executive, Franck Riboud, Mr. Hirshberg introduced a line of products in September meant to tap into the growing demand for organic food in France, particularly in urban markets. The yogurt, called Les 2 Vaches des Fermiers du Bio (the two cows of organic farmers), comes with chatty cartoon cows on the packages and a Web site full of thoughts about planetary health.
go to http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/12/business/worldbusiness/12yogurt.html?_r=1&n=Top%2fNews%2fWorld%2fCountries%20and%20Territories%2fFrance&oref=slogin
for the complete story
Commentaires