Why Chobani Gave Employees A Financial Stake In Company’s Future

Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya (left) presents an employee with shares of the company on Tuesday at the Chobani plant in New Berlin, in upstate New York.

It’s been a good week for employees of Chobani. They learned that they could eventually own about 10 percent of the rapidly expanding Greek yogurt company. That could potentially make millionaires of some workers, if the privately held company is sold or goes public.

It’s a grand gesture, and reflects a rising trend in employee ownership.

Chobani’s meteoric rise began in a defunct old Kraft yogurt manufacturing plant in upstate New York. Founder Hamdi Ulukaya’s only experience in the dairy business was that his mother made delicious strained yogurt in his hometown in Turkey.