America's Oldest Craft Brewery Saved by Chobani Yogurt Billionaire
The shuttered Anchor Brewing Company is being given a new lease on life after Hamdi Ulukaya, the billionaire founder and CEO of Chobani yogurt, scooped up the business with plans to reopen. The craft brewer, which was the oldest in America, closed last July after more than 127 years in business when former parent company Sapporo USA listed it for sale.
Ulukaya won out following a complicated, months-long auction process in which the company's real estate holdings, brewing equipment, branding, and intellectual property were put up for sale separately. Fans of Anchor beer were worried that selling the company for parts would spell doom for the brand.
However, Ulukaya purchased everything together because he wanted to keep the company intact, which also ingratiated the deal to Sapporo.
The Turkish entrepreneur announced in a LinkedIn post last Friday that he had decided to purchase the brewery after falling in love with the city of San Francisco, where Anchor Brewing is based.
"From my first visit, I felt a deep connection to its people and everything that makes them so special," Ulukaya wrote at the time. "When I considered acquiring Anchor Brewing Company, I learned the story of this amazing brand—America’s oldest craft beer—is deeply rooted in this great place and the two are forever connected."
Prior to the Japanese-based Sapporo, which purchased the company for $85 million in 2017, Anchor has undergone many changes in ownership after more than a century in operation. At one point, it was even owned by appliance heir Fritz Maytag.
However, Sapporo closed up shop in 2023 amid lagging sales and a label redesign and rebranding that was widely reviled by fans. Ulukaya has made it clear that he was likewise not a fan of the new direction, and plans to restore the beloved traditional branding and imagery.
"That is what really attracts me, a true brand in business, coming back in a new refreshed way, but still connected to its roots," Ulukaya told the San Francisco Standard last week. "Being part of a rebirth and brand of the company and being part of maybe a new dimension of the city is pretty exciting."
Ulukaya will be meeting with community members for input as he moves forward with getting the brewery back up and running, and plans to hire as many former employees as possible. He still doesn't have an exact timeline for the relaunch, but hopes before the end of the year.
While Ulukaya's pedigree might not suggest that he knows anything about brewing beer, Chobani had a similarly unorthodox start when he founded the company in 2005. At the time, Ulukaya had purchased a shuttering yogurt factory in New York that had previously been operated by Kraft Foods. He hired back four workers that had been laid off and reformatted the facility to manufacture the type of strained yogurt he had grown up with in Turkey.
In 2023, Chobani likewise acquired La Colombe Coffee Roasters for $900 million, after becoming the majority owner in 2015. He had initially purchased stake from a private equity company over fears that what he loved about the brand would become diluted.
"I wish someone could listen to the passion and love and mixed with the emotion that comes out of it," Ulukaya added. "I’m addicted to restarting something."