Chobani, LLC will invest $1.2 billion to open a manufacturing facility in the Lehigh Valley that will employ 900 people, the region’s second billion-dollar investment this year and the largest single agricultural investment in Pennsylvania’s history. 
On a Lehigh County farm Tuesday, Chobani CEO and Founder Hamdi Ulukaya and Gov. Josh Shapiro joined other state and local leaders to announce the company will purchase the Keurig Dr Pepper plant in Upper Macungie Township and next year launch new products beyond its well-known Greek yogurt.
"When I first walked through this factory, I knew there was something special here,” Ulukaya said. “The facility, the equipment, the scale, but most importantly, the people. There's already an incredibly talented team here that knows how to make great food. The foundation is strong. And we have an opportunity to build something extraordinary on top of it."
The 1.5 million-square-foot facility on Industrial Boulevard is a few miles from where Eli Lilly & Company will begin construction this year on a $3.5 billion pharmaceutical manufacturing campus.
The location is part of a larger food and beverage cluster that includes Boston Beer, Coca-Cola, Ocean Spray, and more and is the same site where Kraft Foods once operated for 44 years before closing in 2016. Finding a new operator for that facility was a priority at the time for Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC), and three years later, Keurig Dr Pepper opened a new $220 million manufacturing operation there.
“Getting this site reused was one of my first projects in this job. History comes around, and tomorrow that plant will be bigger and better than we could have ever dreamed, as the Chobani products will be made by 900 Lehigh Valley workers," said Don Cunningham, President & CEO of LVEDC. "So, Governor, Mr. Ulukaya, all of you, thank you for believing in the Lehigh Valley and being part of our family.”
Ulukaya said Chobani will retain the 300 workers from the Keurig Dr Pepper operation.
The hour-long announcement drew more than 100 state and local dignitaries, farmers, and the media to Crystal Spring Farm in North Whitehall Township, a fifth-generation dairy farm that sells milk and ice cream, underscoring the boost the project will have to the state’s dairy industry. Chobani’s operation will process 3 billion pounds of milk annually – 30% of the milk currently produced in the state.
Shapiro said the investment would not just impact the retention and expansion of jobs at the facility but the 4,300 dairy farmers in Pennsylvania.
“Chobani obviously could have chosen to literally invest anywhere, they are an extraordinary global company. They chose to plant their flag right here in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said.
Ulukaya credited Shapiro and his administration with working through challenges to make the project happen, including ensuring there would be sufficient wastewater capacity and an incentive package that will support farmers.
The state will provide $50 million in loans and grants to Chobani and will make up to $127 million in loans and grants available to dairy farmers to help them expand production and invest in new equipment. Chobani also may be eligible to access milk process tax credits.
“These wins don't happen by accident. Once again, the region's economic success has been supercharged by the Shapiro Administration's hard work, focus, and investment, and the coordinated effort of so many in the Lehigh Valley," Cunningham said.
Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding and Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel also delivered remarks at the event.
Who is Chobani
The new Lehigh Valley production hub is part of more than $4 billion that Chobani is investing across its U.S. manufacturing network to build the capacity and capabilities needed for its next chapter of growth.
Chobani was founded in 2005 when Ulukaya purchased a former Kraft Foods yogurt factory in upstate New York with funds from a loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration. In 2011, Chobani started operations in Australia and in 2012 it opened a second U.S. facility, in Idaho.
In 2019, the company expanded its product lines to include oatmilk and dairy creamers. In 2023, Chobani entered the high-growth, ready-to-drink-coffee market by acquiring La Colombe, based in Philadelphia.
In 2025, Chobani announced a $500 million expansion of its Idaho plant, and a new $1.2 billion facility in Rome, New York.
The company employs more than 3,000 people across all locations and has grown its business by about 20% annually over the past three years.
Chobani will employ the existing 300 employees at the current operation and will add another 600 over the five years.
At the Lehigh Valley facility, Chobani will build on 20 years of dairy expertise to make more from farm-fresh milk, creating milk with more protein and less sugar than traditional milk, the company said in a news release. It will be available as a multi-serve milk for families and serve as the foundation for a new generation of dairy products, including high-protein shakes made with real ingredients.
With up to 10 production lines, the new location will give Chobani the capacity to scale its new products while continuing to develop new formats and food and beverage platforms, moving innovation from idea to shelf faster and bringing consumers more great food and more choices.
The company cited the Lehigh Valley’s location, within 500 miles of 40% of the U.S. population, as a major advantage.
Diversifying Lehigh Valley Manufacturing
Chobani’s investment will add major dairy production to the Lehigh Valley’s history of diverse manufacturing, which includes food and beverages, semiconductors and technology, health care and consumer products, plastics, chemicals, and other items. Global brands produced in the Lehigh Valley include Mack Trucks, Crayola crayons, Martin Guitars, and Peeps.
The region is among the Top 15% of markets nationwide for manufacturing, based on Gross Domestic Product. More than 700 manufacturers collectively generate about $9 billion in output annually. That represents 16% of the Lehigh Valley’s GDP. Nationally, manufacturing is 11% of GDP.
Employment in manufacturing in the Lehigh Valley has grown three times as fast as the nation since 2010.
Food and beverage manufacturing is a leading component of the Lehigh Valley’s manufacturing might, and it is one of the sectors targeted for growth in LVEDC’s Strategic Plan.
The industry employs about 7,000 people in the Lehigh Valley and is 60% more concentrated in the region than it is nationally.
Since 2010, employment in food and beverage manufacturing in the Lehigh Valley has grown by about 94% - three times faster than the national growth rate of 31%.
Over that time, the number of manufacturing establishments grew by nearly 90% and now numbers 127. Chobani will join global and regional brands such as Boston Beer Co., Bakerly/Norac, Coca-Cola, Freshpet, Just Born Quality Confections, Ocean Spray, Nestle Purina, and Spot & Tango, among others who produce in the Lehigh Valley.
"We welcome Chobani and its $1.2 billion investment in Pennsylvania to the portfolio of internationally known companies producing brand-name products here in one of America's top manufacturing markets," Cunningham said.
Project Funding & Infrastructure
The $50 million in loans and grants to Chobani will come from the Pennsylvania Strategic Investments to Enhance Sites (PA SITES) program, which funds improvements to properties to get them shovel-ready for speedy development. 
The project also will be entered in the PA Permit Fast Track Program, which accelerates timelines by streamlining regulatory reviews for complex and impactful economic development and infrastructure projects.
The milk processing tax credits Chobani could access were authorized by the General Assembly in 2022 to encourage major investment in dairy-processing facilities and increase demand for Pennsylvania-produced milk. The state has the second-most dairy farms in America, and agriculture is one of the key industries targeted for growth in Pennsylvania’s 10-year economic development strategy.
The credits are part of the Pennsylvania Economic Development for a Growing Economy (PA EDGE) program designed to attract major business investments and create new jobs in key manufacturing and energy sectors. Lilly’s pharmaceutical manufacturing campus has been awarded $50 million in tax credits under that program.
“Chobani’s investment reinforces the faith in our dairy farmers and manufacturers, and the role they play in moving our economy forward,” said Pennsylvania Department of Revenue Secretary Pat Browne. “This also demonstrates that policy and tax reform changes we have made, including the phased reduction of the corporate net income tax, have led to significant investments by businesses in the Commonwealth.”
The Lehigh County Authority worked with Chobani to ensure the region’s water and wastewater systems would have sufficient capacity to support the company’s operations. That involved working with municipalities including Allentown and Upper Macungie, Lower Macungie, and South Whitehall townships to manage capacity needs.
“Planning for the future of our water and sewer systems is simply essential if we want healthy, growing communities,” said Liesel Gross, CEO of the Lehigh County Authority. “LCA was honored to have a seat at the table to explore ways to make a Chobani location in the Lehigh Valley a reality, and we look forward to building a strong partnership with Chobani in the years ahead.”
Cunningham and Rick Siger, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, recognized the collective effort made to put the deal together.
“I always say that economic development is a team sport,” Siger said. “This deal is what that's about, so many people coming together to make this massive project a reality.”
“They all represented the best of Lehigh Valley regionalism and putting the greater good ahead of parochialism. That is the essence of the Lehigh Valley,” Cunningham said.
Community Partnerships & Philanthropy
Chobani has a track record of supporting the communities where it operates, stemming from Ulukaya’s personal commitment to giving back.
Ulukaya has received the Oslo Business for Peace Award and the George H.W. Bush Points of Light Award, is a Global Citizen Prize winner, and was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World for his work on the refugee crisis and his innovative approach to business.
Reflecting those values, Chobani has paid off school lunch debts; established college scholarship programs for careers in dairy farming; and provided funding for a new firehouse, community center, refrigerated food truck for a food bank, and a university scientific research center. It has launched Community Impact Funds that offer grants to organizations, programs, and projects that promote entrepreneurship and expand economic opportunity for individuals.
Chobani is committed to becoming part of the Lehigh Valley community, Ulukaya said. On Aug. 31, it donated a truckload of yogurt and shelf-stable milk to Community Action Lehigh Valley, a nonprofit providing services including the Second Harvest Food Bank of the Lehigh Valley and Northeast Pennsylvania.
“Hunger is solvable when people come together with compassion, commitment, and action. Every donation, every volunteer hour, and every voice raised in advocacy helps build a stronger, healthier community for all,” said Dawn Godshall, CEO, Community Action Lehigh Valley.
Since 2020, Chobani has donated approximately 15 million products to fight food insecurity across America and advocated for policies that work toward ending hunger for 17 million American children.
Cunningham celebrated Ulukaya’s story and commitment to giving back in welcoming him and Chobani to the Lehigh Valley.
“Your story is inspirational. Your life is an embodiment of the American dream as we all learned it and want it to be. An example of how hard work, intelligence, and a commitment to innovation and quality, create a better product, a better place, a better world.”
Location’s Legacy
The property where Chobani will produce in Upper Macungie has been used for food and beverage manufacturing for more than half a century.
It is part of a food and beverage production cluster that includes Boston Beer Co., Coca-Cola, Ocean Spray, Bimbo Bakeries, Niagara Bottling, and Spot & Tango, among others. The area has convenient access to Interstate 78 and rail service, along with pre-treatment wastewater facilities.
The Industrial Boulevard site was first developed as part of the nearly 1 million square-foot Kraft Foods complex that opened in 1972 and employed more than 400. Over more than four decades, products made there included cheese, Grey Poupon mustard, A.1. steak sauce, salad dressings and Miracle Whip, coffee pods, and Lunchables. 
After Kraft merged with Heinz in 2015, the new company closed the facility in 2016, one of seven closures in the U.S. and Canada as operations were consolidated. A year later, the property was purchased by a new owner who demolished the Kraft Heinz complex and erected multiple new buildings.
Keurig Dr Pepper later opened a $220 million manufacturing and distribution hub there, with 378 jobs.
Assuming operations of the facility’s equipment and related infrastructure will accelerate Chobani’s ability to begin operations.
“Our promise to the Governor and team, and to everybody here, is we will work so hard to help to move this community further and tell everyone the magic about Eastern Pennsylvania and the people of Pennsylvania and the farmers and their awesome work," Ulukaya said.
(Photos by Commonwealth Media Services and Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation)