Hamdi Ulukaya, a Turkish-born entrepreneur, says his company is proof that those principles work. He has donated millions of dollars to fight food insecurity and to disaster relief efforts around the world. Chobani is also a part of the Tent Coalition for Refugees in the US, which advocates for the hiring and training of refugees across the country.
That being said, we have a few reasons we want to go public. One is our 2,000 employees — they have shares and I want them to have access to that money [Ulukaya has given his employees shares of the company worth up to 10% of Chobani’s total value]. The second is we want our manufacturing to grow, product-wise and geographically. So this is not an exit. But if going public is going to fuel our journey then I welcome it.