NORWICH, N.Y. – Chobani today announced the company’s starting hourly wage will increase to at least $15 an hour, more than double the federal minimum wage. It is the latest commitment by Chobani, maker of Greek yogurts, oat milks, probiotic drinks, and dairy creamers, to put people over profits with robust employee benefits. The changes take effect in the first quarter of 2021.
As a result of this increase, Chobani’s average hourly rate at the company’s manufacturing plants in South Edmeston, New York, and Twin Falls, Idaho, will be approximately $19 an hour – well above the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour1. And for Chobani’s hourly employees in New York City, including those who work at the Chobani Café® in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, the company is raising minimum starting wages to $18 an hour, given the region’s high cost of living.
Today, approximately 70 percent of Chobani’s employees are paid hourly.
“This moment of uncertainty is a call for us to join together to strengthen communities and support those working tirelessly to make the food on the tables of families across America,” said Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder and CEO of Chobani. “Businesses should serve the people and communities in which they operate. Raising our base starting salary is the right thing to do and we hope other businesses, particularly food manufacturers, feel the same as we all work toward rebuilding our country.”
Since Chobani’s founding, the company has believed that businesses should take care of their employees first. That belief is best embodied in the robust employee benefits package Chobani created over the years. In addition to full healthcare benefits and a company-sponsored retirement plan, Chobani offers:
- Special Bonuses and Support for Frontline Workers – Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chobani has implemented extensive health and safety measures to keep its people and their families safe, including PPE, meals and increased financial benefits. The company created additional innovative ways to support its employees, including paying special incremental bonuses to all hourly plant employees for the past three quarters, which are continuing, and an ongoing daily childcare subsidy to support those who suddenly found themselves without childcare options due to closed schools and childcare centers.
- Chobani Rewards – an initiative that allows every full-time employee to share in the growth of Chobani over time – continues to support our employees – including new employees – to meaningfully share in the value we’ve already created and will create together.
- Effective in 2017, Chobani implemented a new paid parental leave policy, offering 100 percent paid parental leave for six weeks for all full-time hourly and salaried employees. The program extends to all parents for the birth, adoption, or placement of a foster child into the home. In addition, the company covers three rounds of IVF and fertility preservation for all full-time employees, including hourly frontline workers.
- Chobani is committed to Pay Equity throughout the company. All Chobani employees are compensated based on their contributions to the organization, not their gender, race, or any other identity. Each year, Chobani conducts a pay equity analysis to ensure that employees in similar job levels are being paid fairly based on justifiable compensation factors, like their tenure and performance, and not on discriminatory factors, like gender and race. Chobani is proud that, across all levels, it has concluded employee gender and race do not affect pay. And the company is continuing to conduct pay equity analyses annually to protect this into the future.
- To maintain Chobani’s fair and equitable compensation practices, the company has established and standardized pay ranges for hourly roles, leading to greater transparency around compensation and setting clear expectations with employees for their growth over time within the organization.
For more information about Chobani, visit https://www.chobani.com/
About Chobani
Maker of America’s No. 1–selling Greek Yogurt brand and the second largest yogurt manufacturer in the U.S., Chobani, LLC, was founded on the belief that people have great taste—they just need great options. Chobani produces high-quality authentic yogurt made with only natural, non-GMO ingredients from its plants in New Berlin, New York, Twin Falls, Idaho and South Victoria, Australia. Chobani is committed to using milk from regional farms and strengthening its surrounding local economies. Chobani gives a portion of its annual profits to charities worldwide. All Chobani products—including Chobani® Greek Yogurt and Greek Yogurt Drink, Chobani® Flip®, Chobani® Squeezable Greek Yogurt, Chobani® Less Sugar Greek Yogurt, Chobani® Gimmies™, Non-Dairy Chobani™ Coconut Blends and Drinks, Chobani™ Oat Drink and Barista Edition, Chobani® Oat Blend, Chobani® Oat Blend with Crunch, Chobani® Greek Yogurt with Oatmeal, Chobani™ Coffee Creamers, Chobani® Probiotic and Chobani® Complete—are kosher certified, contain live and active cultures, and are made without any artificial flavors, sweeteners, or preservatives. All Chobani dairy products are made with milk from cows not treated with rBST.* Chobani products are available nationwide in the U.S., Mexico, Canada and Australia, and in countries in Asia and Latin America. For more information, please visit www.chobani.com and www.facebook.com/chobani.
*According to the FDA, no significant difference has been found between milk derived from rBST-treated and non-rBST-treated cows.
