Chobani Opens Sales HQ In CLT

The nation's top-selling Greek yogurt brand will locate its corporate sales headquarters in Charlotte. Chobani already has 17 employees at an office uptown and expects to at least double that by the end of next year. The company is headquartered in central New York, but co-founder Kyle O'Brien grew up in Fort Mill and has run Chobani's sales from here since it was founded five years ago. "(Charlotte) is a great transportation hub," explains O'Brien. "Easy direct flights to get to where we need to be quickly, in front of all these retailers around the U.S. It's a great talent pool from the business side to the culinary side with Johnson and Wales being based right here in town. And it just so happens that I'm from here. (Charlotte) made sense." O'Brien says the 20 or so new employees Chobani plans to hire in Charlotte over the next 18 months will be primarily sales support and analyst positions paying an average of $70,000. Greek yogurt - which is thicker and creamier than traditional yogurt - is rapidly taking over grocery store dairy shelves. Chobani sales currently account for more than of the Greek yogurt market in the U.S. Since the company was founded in 2007, O'Brien says it has become a $700 million business.