Chobani Celebrates 10 Years Now as Market’s Largest Greek Yogurt Provider
By Anne Howard and Brandon Hinojos
The leading Greek yogurt brand in the U.S. owning 36% of all Greek yogurt sales, Chobani LLC, is celebrating 10 years in business and offering a special giveaway for their customers. Starting today through March 4th, Chobani is giving out free cups of yogurt for those that redeem a coupon at participating retail grocers. Customers are eligible to receive either, “Chobani® 5.3oz Greek Yogurt, Flip® 5.3oz yogurt snacks, 10oz drinks, or Smooth (2-pack).” Chobani CEO And Founder, Hamdi Ulukaya, said in a press statement that this anniversary celebration is their:
Way of saying thank you is something we’ve done since we first got started, and now we wanted to extend it to everyone in America.
Chobani’s Fight to End Childhood Hunger Continues
This giveaway coincides with Chobani’s continual efforts to end hunger through their integrated national campaign. Chobani already donates 10% of their profits to charity and have always valued corporate social responsibility. Today in New York City at the Grand Central Terminal, yogurt enthusiasts are invited to “plant” virtual seeds that correspond with a Chobani product. For every seed planted, the company will donate a case of yogurt to American childhood hunger campaign, “No Kid Hungry.” This one-day event will allow yogurt fans to contribute to a greater cause and receive a photo and coupon as tokens of appreciation.
Chobani Also Supports Employees via Company Stock Options
Last year, The Scope Weekly reported that Chobani became an employee-owned company granting its workforce up to 10% of the organization. If in the event that Chobani goes public or acquired, employees are able to sell their shares for whatever it’s worth. The value of individual shares is determined by the duration of employment along with their role in the company. Over 30% of Chobani’s workforce consists of foreign refugees.
Working with Refugees and Death Threats
Ulukaya and his company have been unwillingly thrown into the center of an ugly debate over the refugee migrant crisis, and he has been unjustly been the recipient of death threats as a result. Business Insider’s analysis of the Twitter hashtag “boycott Chobani” have tied it back to supporters of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.
“It got woven into a narrative that it’s all a cover-up, that we’re all trying to keep the refugees safe so that Chobani has its workforce, that I personally am getting money from the Obama administration to help Chobani hire whoever they want, that it’s part of this Islamification of the United States,” Twin Falls mayor Shawn Barigar told The New York Times. “It’s crazy.”
Hamdi Ulukaya, who is a Turkish immigrant of Kurdish descent, employs more than 400 refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Russia and other countries in his factories in New York and Twin Falls, Idaho, and is committed to finding a solution to the refugee crisis.
Tent, the organization he founded in 2015 believes that the private sector can do a lot to” improve the lives and livelihoods of the more than 20 million men, women & children forcibly displaced from their home countries.”
Greek Yogurt Anyone?
Chobani has made its name offering wholesome Greek yogurt for its customers and puts its best foot forward for their 10th anniversary. Now fans and employees alike are able to grab free samples for the next 3 weeks along with opportunities to partake in company-held events. It is strategies such as these that have enabled Chobani to come out on top in the Greek yogurt industry and solidify their name as the second-leading yogurt supplier in the U.S.
Mr. Ulukaya declined to comment for this article.
Grand Central -Photos Credit Diane Bondareff/AP Images for Chobani
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