Chobani Takes Heat After Partnership with Ivanka Trump

There's a certain group of Americans who protest against anything associated with Donald Trump. Now, Chobani is getting to feel what it's like to face the backlash of doing business with someone the anti-Trump population doesn't approve of: Ivanka Trump.

Chobani announced a partnership with a company called Planet Harvest which sources "imperfect" fruits and vegetables typically discarded before they ever reach the market. The Chicago based company was launched in 2023 by Ivanka Trump, the President's daughter, and Melissa Ackerman in an effort to reduce waste in the produce industry.

Trump says she reached out to Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya in 2024 and the two struck a deal then for Chobani to use "imperfect" strawberries almost exclusively, with plans to use additional fruit in the future.

The announcement this week prompted several people - 500,000 and growing on social media - to lash out and threaten to boycott Chobani because of the partnership.

Ulukaya, New York State and Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente announced earlier this year that they were investing $1.2 billion on a new plant in Rome, NY, to construct the largest "clean foods" manufacturing plant in the United States. Construction is now underway on the facility which is expected to create more than 1,000 new jobs in the Oneida County region. The new plant is expected to open in the fall of 2026.

Trump has been out of the public spotlight since her father left office in 2020. She has not been a part of the current administration.