The UK’s Greek yoghurt market is set to become a whole lot more crowded, as two US brands prepare to make their UK debut this autumn.

The Grocer can exclusively reveal Hain Daniels is launching four variants of its $80m Greek Gods brand into Sainsbury’s in November. The move comes after rival US brand Chobani announced plans earlier this week to launch its yoghurts into Tesco later this month.

While Chobani is being positioned as a fat-free Greek yoghurt, Hain’s Greek Gods will be marketed as an indulgent, premium dessert. “It’s quite different to existing Greek yoghurt offerings because it’s a much more luxury item,” said Hain Daniels CEO Rob Burnett.

Greek Gods will be available in honey with vanilla, honey with strawberry, honey with clementine and plain honey, priced at about £3 for a 680g pot. The products will be produced in the UK. Burnett refused to say by whom.

The yoghurts will be on sale only in Sainsbury’s until spring, with a wider, national launch planned for 2013.

Hain acquired Greek Gods two years ago, when the brand was worth about $10m. Burnett said it had since grown into an $80m brand, adding “we would hope to get 10% of the UK Greek yoghurt market reasonably quickly”.

Meanwhile, Chobani - the leading yoghurt brand in the US, worth about $1bn - is going into Tesco with six variants - strawberry, peach, black cheery, blood orange, pomegranate and plain (all rsp: 89p/170g pot).

Chobani claims its USP is its straining process and the high protein content of its yoghurts, as well as the fact it uses real fruit pieces in its range.

The Chobani and Greek Gods launches come amid a flurry of new Greek yoghurt products from established UK players. Last week, WeightWatchers launched two four-packs of fat-free Greek Style yoghurts. Danone launched a standalone Greek brand, Oykos, in May, while Müller launched Müllerlight Greek Style in March.

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