When it comes to tech, there’s so many opportunities. As so much of the world is moving into online shopping, home delivery, and as these retail networks are being built by the grocers, what’s the role that digital can play as we think about the entire marketing and shopping journey? It’s a new field for all of us, really. I’m excited to see what I can bring from my experiences at Google and Uber to the table.
How did Chobani get on your radar?
I was looking for my next gig to be at the intersection of profit and purpose. These are two things I’m really passionate about. Profit, because companies that have scale and can generate a profit have impact and the ability to fund purpose-driven work. Purpose-driven businesses are good for profit.
On the other hand, I have a public policy background, I’ve been very mission driven in many of my career choices, and I can’t think of a brand that’s more mission driven than Chobani with these beliefs that good food can change the world.
Frankly, I don’t think being purpose driven is just about being altruistic. It’s about having a really clear, disruptive consumer value proposition. That’s at the heart of the company—being able to provide simple, nutritious and natural ingredients at a good price.
On top of that, I’m really passionate about food. It’s been one of my passions since I was a kid, and I started working at my dad’s food business.
Is there anything you want to change about the way consumers perceive the Chobani brand, or are you trying to broaden their perception of what’s already there?
Yes, and no. There’s so much love for the Chobani brand, and I think we have to stoke that love and help people continue to see what’s so wonderful about the brand and help more people see that. I don’t want to change that. There’s just incredible love and loyalty for Chobani and I want to build on that.
But the yes part is that we’re actually so much more than a yogurt company, and people don’t know that. We need to tell that story. Not just our mission, but [that] we want to do for the creamer category what we’ve done for Greek yogurt, and yogurt broadly. We’re just getting started.
What are you going to focus on first?
I’m still trying to figure out where they keep the yogurt around here. I’m trying every flavor I can possibly try. I’m on a roll with at least one new flavor every day.
The biggest agenda item is telling the story … to help people see that we’re much more than a yogurt company, not just in terms of moving into creamer and oat milk and other categories but also the mission and the purpose that fuels all of this. Making sure that people really can see that we bring such love and care and real passion to the things that we make [is important].
