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At high-traffic intersections across greater Toronto, commuters can see brightly hued billboards and transit ads promoting Chobani, the top-selling yogourt brand in the United States, which began selling in Canada on a limited basis last November.

Those familiar with the Greek-style yogourt brand’s U.S. success might believe Chobani will enjoy the same triumph here, a market that consumes twice the amount of yogourt per capita than the U.S.

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But if a coalition of existing Canadian dairy companies has anything to say about it, Chobani won’t be sold in Canada for long.

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“It is very clear that our existing peers in the market are trying to cut us out,” says Nico Bevers, Chobani’s vice-president of international development. “They are afraid. They are so afraid of letting Chobani in with its track record in the U.S. market.”

The battle stretches beyond yogourt, industry critics say, because it could not be happening were it not underpinned by the densely woven regulatory fabric of this country’s supply-management system, which they argue stifles innovation, obstructs new competition and keeps prices artificially high.