The potential IPO, which has not yet been presented to regulators, could end up making hundreds of the company's factory workers here in upstate New York fabulously wealthy, although nothing is set in stone, and previous plans by the company to go public have been shelved for various reasons. About four years ago, Ulukaya shocked his employees when he announced he was giving them 10 percent of the shares that he owned in the privately held company, which he had started in at a former Kraft factory in the heart of dairy country in Chenango County.
Today, the news is even better for those workers. The push for an IPO comes as Chobani is moving to become more than just a yogurt company that makes dairy products, but also plant-based foods that have been increasingly embraced by consumers for health and environmental reasons.
Chobani has 2, employees across the United States. If I wanted yogurt, I usually made it myself at home. So when I came across a piece of junk mail advertising a fully equipped yogurt factory for sale, in March , I was curious. Kraft owned the yogurt factory, and it had decided to get out of the yogurt business. The advertisement showed some photographs of the building, which had been constructed in and appeared to be in rough shape. On a whim, I called the broker and arranged to drive over the next morning to take a look.
The factory was a sad place, sort of like a cemetery, in a very small town. Fifty-five employees were preparing to shut it down. A lot of equipment was included, but it was old. Some of the individual machines would cost more than that if purchased new. On the drive home I called my attorney, who is my main business adviser. I told him I wanted to buy the factory. He thought it was a terrible idea.
Third, and maybe the strongest objection, where was I going to get that kind of money? He was right: At that point, I had nowhere near enough money for such a big purchase. But as it turned out, I was able to borrow the money to buy the factory—and after Chobani hit the market, I financed our growth through further bank loans and reinvested profits.
This is a crucial piece of the Chobani story. That means I can run the company the way I choose—and plan for its future without pressure from outsiders. The plant makes U. Chobani becomes the best-selling brand of all yogurt in the United States and expands to Canada and Australia. That view is wrong. To buy the yogurt factory, I obtained a bank loan backed by the U. Small Business Administration.
The loan was sufficient to create a small amount of working capital in addition to the purchase price. The process took about five months, and on August 17, , I had the keys to the factory. I immediately hired a master yogurt maker from Turkey, and we spent the next two years perfecting our recipe. In addition to fine-tuning our own recipe, we worked hard to get the packaging right.
American yogurt has always been sold in containers with relatively narrow openings. By late we were ready to go to market. At that point we made several crucial decisions that allowed us to finance our growth once the business took off.
First, we insisted that Chobani be sold in mainstream grocery stores rather than specialty stores, and that it be stocked in the dairy aisle, alongside existing yogurt brands, rather than in the gourmet or natural food aisles.
Although many Americans had never heard of Greek yogurt until Chobani launched, at least one rival brand had been selling Greek yogurt in specialty stores since the mids. But because it had limited distribution, it remained a tiny niche product. We wanted Chobani to be accessible to everyone. Insisting that Chobani be stocked in the dairy aisle—rather than the gourmet section—is probably the single most important decision we made.
Second, we negotiated with retailers over their slotting fees. So we negotiated to pay off the slotting fees over time as the yogurt sold. We produce yogurt, oatmilk, dairy and plant-based creamers, ready-to-drink coffee and plant-based probiotic drinks. Chobani yogurt is America's No. Chobani uses food as a force for good in the world — putting humanity first in everything we do. Our philanthropic efforts prioritize giving back to our communities and beyond: working to eradicate child hunger, supporting immigrants and refugees and underrepresented people, honoring veterans, and protecting the planet.
We manufacture our products in New York, Idaho, and Australia. Chobani products are available throughout North America and distributed in Australia and other select markets. In , Hamdi took a loan from the Small Business Administration, bought an old yogurt plant, and brought a small group of passionate individuals together to make the real, wholesome yogurt that he remembered from his childhood. For the next two years, Hamdi devoted himself to the craft, carefully building his team to ensure quality from the ground up.
In , we broke ground on a new, state-of-the-art yogurt factory in Twin Falls, Idaho. In , Chobani started unveiling a series of innovations in four new categories beyond yogurt: oatmilk, dairy and plant-based coffee creamers, ready-to-drink cold brew coffee and plant-based probiotic drinks.
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