Chobani has officially broken ground on a US$567 million, three-phase expansion of its La Colombe coffee manufacturing facility in Norton Shores, Michigan, marking the largest economic development project in Muskegon County history. The ceremony on June 2, 2026, was attended by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Chobani founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya, U.S. Representative Hillary Scholten, and a host of state and municipal officials. The expansion will grow the existing facility from approximately 40,000 square feet to around 200,000 square feet, a fivefold increase in footprint, and will establish Norton Shores as the central hub for La Colombe’s end-to-end coffee manufacturing, production, research and development, and product innovation operations. Output is projected to climb from roughly 185,000 cases per week to over one million, and annual milk processing will surge from 30 million pounds to an estimated 615 million pounds. The project is expected to create 337 new jobs while retaining the facility’s existing 312 positions, effectively doubling the plant’s workforce. State support includes a US$5 million Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant approved by the Michigan Strategic Fund Board, alongside US$28 million in Strategic Site Readiness Funds directed toward wastewater infrastructure modernisation across Muskegon County, a US$64.5 million upgrade required to support the facility’s vastly increased production load.

West Michigan Bets Big on Dairy-Linked Manufacturing

The La Colombe groundbreaking does not stand alone. It is part of a broader wave of dairy-linked manufacturing investment sweeping West Michigan, driven by the state’s deep agricultural base of over 3,000 dairy farms producing upward of 16 billion pounds of milk annually. The Norton Shores project sits alongside Fairlife’s concurrent expansion at its Coopersville plant, with the Michigan Strategic Fund approving a 15-year Alternative State Essential Services Assessment Abatement worth an estimated US$3.9 million for that project at the same March 2026 board meeting. Together, the two investments represent more than US$1 billion in new dairy processing capacity in the region, a clustering effect that mirrors the kind of agri-industrial concentration more often seen in the American Midwest’s grain belt than in the Great Lakes. The scale of the La Colombe investment is also a direct consequence of Chobani’s US$900 million acquisition of the Philadelphia-founded coffee brand in 2023, a deal that repositioned the yogurt giant into the premium ready-to-drink beverage market. Chobani is pursuing a parallel US$500 million expansion of its Twin Falls, Idaho facility as well as its US$1.2 billion yogurt plant in Rome, New York, underscoring an aggressive national infrastructure build-out that is targeting both coastal demand centres and the agricultural heartland simultaneously. For Muskegon County, the practical implication is transformative: local dairy farmers stand to see their output absorbed at dramatically higher volumes, lowering transportation costs and improving milk freshness, a supply chain realignment that local producers have described as a meaningful change to the economics of West Michigan farming.

Project Fact Sheet

• Project Name: La Colombe Coffee Manufacturing Facility Expansion
• Location: Norton Shores, Muskegon County, Michigan, USA
• Project Value: US$567 million
• Client/Owner: Chobani (La Colombe Coffee Roasters)
• Project Phases: Three-phase expansion
• Key Components: Over 200,000 sq ft of additional production space, end-to-end coffee manufacturing, cold brew and canned latte production lines, R&D and innovation centre
• Construction Start: June 2026 (groundbreaking June 2, 2026)
• Projected Output: Over 1 million cases of ready-to-drink lattes per week
• Jobs Created: 337 new positions; 312 existing positions retained
• State Incentives: US$5 million Michigan Business Development Program grant; US$28 million Strategic Site Readiness Fund for wastewater infrastructure
• Environmental and Infrastructure Features: Muskegon County wastewater system modernisation (total cost US$64.5 million) enabling large-scale 24/7 production
• Strategic Impact: Largest economic development project in Muskegon County history; establishes Norton Shores as La Colombe’s national manufacturing, production, and R&D hub

Project Team

• Client/Owner: Chobani, LLC (parent company); La Colombe Coffee Roasters (operating brand)
• Founder and CEO: Hamdi Ulukaya, Chobani
• Government Partner: State of Michigan (Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Office)
• State Funding Body: Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) Board
• State Economic Development Agency: Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC)
• Local Economic Development Partner: Greater Muskegon Economic Development (GMED)
• Municipal Authority: City of Norton Shores (Mayor Gary Nelund)
• Infrastructure Partner: Muskegon County Resource Recovery Center (wastewater)
• Main Contractor: To be confirmed; expected to be drawn from firms experienced in large-scale food and beverage manufacturing construction such as Barton Malow, Granger Construction, or Pioneer Construction, all of which have significant Michigan presence
• Regulatory Oversight: Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD)