Yoghurt maker Chobani Australia has appointed five new employees to the commercial team as the company continues its positive growth path in the Australian market.

Sales team appointments

Joseph DePetro has joined as National Account Manager Woolworths, to provide a dedicated resource on the grocery accounts. Mr DePetro has experience gained in sales roles at large multinational companies and brokers, from launching new products into the supermarket channels, to expanding existing brands.

Ivan Cook has been appointed National Account Manager Foodservice and Independents. Mr Cook will be responsible for building the foodservice channel, and managing the independent customers plus distributor partners. According to Chobani Australia, he brings “a wealth of local and international experience gained in sales and hospitality roles”, including Head Chef and Culinary Advisor roles at large multinational companies and hotel groups.

George Gabriel joins as National Account Manager (Coles), replacing Julia Clarke who is going on maternity leave and will return with a new role. Mr Gabriel brings over eight years in a variety of sales roles for his previous employer, global personal care brand PZ Cussons.

The three sales appointments will report to Lyn Radford, General Manager of Sales and Category Management for Chobani Australia.

“We’re thrilled with the positive response from our customers, who continue to support us with increased ranging, and in turn we are supporting them with an increased team and dedicated resources across our key channels,” said Ms Radford. “Our movement into the foodservice channel in 2014 is also another exciting development that we are looking forward to.”

Marketing team appointments

Mark Malak has been appointed Group Brand Manager with a focus on managing the Chobani brand in Australia, as well as Gippsland Dairy. Mr Malak gained valuable food marketing and managerial experience as Patties Foods as the brand manager for the Four’n’Twenty brand.

Anna Strode has joined Chobani Australia as Field Marketing Manager to manage the significant expansion of Chobani Australia’s sampling and experiential activities. Ms Strode comes from Red Bull specialising in field marketing, where she demonstrated her expertise in developing a strong and effective field marketing team.

The two marketing appointments report to Damian Young, General Manager of Marketing for Chobani Australia.

“Chobani is going from strength-to-strength, with total brand awareness now over 25 percent nationally, which we’re extremely pleased with considering the short time we have been in the market,” Mr Young said.

“Together with our Gippsland range we are now number two yogurt manufacturer in Australia and we’re delighted to be expanding our team to support this growth, with a strong focus next year on broadening our experiential efforts across Australia,” Mr Young said.

As a demonstration of the continued expansion of the company’s offerings, Chobani Australia this month launched a new packaging format, Chobani Pouches in 140g pack sizes, and two new Chobani Greek Yogurt 170g flavours, Apricot and Blueberry.

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