Stock Chart for Starbucks Corp (SBUX) 
 
 Coming soon to a Starbucks near you: Greek yogurt. 
 
 In a partnership with Danone SA (BN), the world’s largest coffee shop operator will start selling the dairy product in its cafes next year and in food retailers in 2015. The plan helps address two of Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz’s key concerns: offering healthier fare and helping Starbucks Corp. colonize the grocery store. 
 
 “Starbucks is venturing into becoming a house of brands,” similar to Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) and Unilever, Bill Chidley, senior vice president at Interbrand Design Forum in Dayton, Ohio, said in an interview. The move is risky, he said. 
 
 “When you start to get too diverse with your portfolio, investors just have a hard time characterizing what you are,” Chidley said. “Are they a house of brands or are they about beverage experiences?” 
 
 Starbucks has steadily been moving into the grocery business since 1995, when it began selling ice cream in such flavors as java chip frappuccino and caramel macchiato. It has since added packaged coffee, Tazo brand tea and Via instant packets. Since wresting control of Starbucks (SBUX)’ supermarket business from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2011, Schultz has accelerated his rollout of new items into grocery stores with Keurig K-Cup pods, Evolution Fresh juice and Refreshers energy drinks. 
 
 Danone, the Paris-based maker of Oikos and Activia brand yogurts, will make the new products for Starbucks, which will be branded “Evolution Fresh, Inspired by Dannon.” The financial terms of the partnership weren’t disclosed. Starbucks bought juicemaker Evolution Fresh in 2011 for $30 million in cash before snapping up Teavana Holdings Inc., whose products it also plans to sell in grocery stores. 
 
 Grocery Expansion 
 
 Starbucks’s grocery business has been expanding faster than its cafe sales. In the year ended in September, revenue from selling items in supermarkets and other retailers jumped 50 percent to $1.29 billion, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Total revenue that same year increased 14 percent to $13.3 billion. 
 
 The shares fell 1.2 percent to $68.19 at 12:02 p.m. in New York. They had gained 29 percent this year through yesterday, compared with a 19 percent increase for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. 
 
 Starbucks will start selling Greek yogurt parfaits in its company-owned U.S. stores next year. The coffee-shop operator is considering selling the yogurt internationally and may create other foods with Danone, said Jim Olson, a Starbucks spokesman. 
 
 Big Step 
 
 “This is really the next big strategic step in our health and wellness evolution,” he said. 
 
 Sales of yogurt are increasing -- even more so for the Greek variety. Greek-style yogurt sales in the U.S. surged 48 percent to $2.65 billion in the 52 weeks ended June 8, according to data from Nielsen. Sales of all yogurt increased 6.1 percent to $6.3 billion during the same time, the data show. 
 
 Chobani Inc., General Mills Inc. (GIS)’s Yoplait and Fage Dairy Industry SA also sell Greek yogurt. 
 
 “It’s certainly crowded,” Interbrand’s Chidley said. “A new entrant is going to have to have something compelling.” 
 
 To contact the reporter on this story: Leslie Patton in Chicago at lpatton5@bloomberg.net 
 
 To contact the editor responsible for this story: Robin Ajello at rajello@bloomberg.net ||||| Starbucks Corp. is making another move to get on more grocery shelves, this time partnering with Danone SA to sell Greek yogurt parfaits and other similar items. 
 
 The yogurt products will be co-branded as "Evolution Fresh, Inspired by Dannon," referring to the European company's U.S. line of Dannon yogurt and Starbucks's juice line, Evolution Fresh. The items will first be sold in Starbucks cafes next spring, then in supermarkets in 2015, the companies said Tuesday. Sales overseas are a possibility, eventually. 
 
 Starbucks says the yogurt segment in the U.S. is a $6 billion business, with room to grow significantly. U.S. consumers on average eat about half as much yogurt as Canadians consume annually, and a third as much as Europeans, according to Euromonitor. "With a fast-growing but still low penetration of the yogurt category, the U.S. remains a key growth opportunity for Danone," Danone Chief Executive Franck Riboud said in a statement. 
 
 Competition will be tough. Chobani Inc.—the leading maker of Greek yogurt, with sales that topped $1 billion last year—recently came out with 14 new items, including flavors like coconut, key lime and orange vanilla. Chobani's founder, Hamdi Ulukaya, has said annual sales of yogurt could double over the next three to four years. The hope is that Americans will start eating yogurt more often during the day—as a dip with a meal, or as a dessert after dinner—rather than just at breakfast. 
 
 Starbucks has been working to diversify its traditional coffee business by expanding into more packaged products and food. It acquired Evolution Fresh in November 2011 for $30 million. It also recently purchased a loose-leaf tea retailer, Teavana, for $620 million, and has taken on other new ventures, including a line of energy drinks, a San Francisco Bay-area bakery, and its own single-serve coffee espresso brewer. 
 
 In addition to helping Starbucks get a piece of the action in the fast-growing yogurt market, the parfait plan could help build awareness of Evolution Fresh. 
 
 Danone's Oikos brand Greek yogurt topped the list of best-selling food products launched in the U.S. last year, according to an annual poll by IRI published in April. Danone says its growth will be accelerated by having access to millions of consumers through Starbucks's cafes. 
 
 Starbucks didn't disclose the financial terms of the deal, but said Danone will handle the distribution, so it doesn't expect to face additional capital expenses. The coffee giant is scheduled to report its quarterly earnings Thursday. 
 
 Corrections & Amplifications 
 
 Starbucks bought Evolution Fresh in November 2011. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the acquisition was last November.
– If the booming sales weren't enough to convince you that Greek yogurt is a thing, try this: Starbucks wants in. The company plans to start selling the yogurt in its stores next spring, and then start stocking supermarket shelves around the country after that, reports the Wall Street Journal. It will be sold as as "Evolution Fresh, Inspired by Dannon," a reflection that Starbucks is teaming with Dannon parent company Danone. Evolution Fresh is the name of the Starbucks juice line already being sold. Why Greek yogurt? It probably has something to do with the fact that US sales jumped 48% to $2.65 billion in the year ending June 8, reports Bloomberg. But one analyst thinks the Starbucks move toward becoming a "house of brands" is a risky one. “When you start to get too diverse with your portfolio, investors just have a hard time characterizing what you are,” he says. “Are they a house of brands or are they about beverage experiences?” (Maybe Starbucks can help figure out what to do with the nasty byproduct that results from the making of Greek yogurt.)