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Key Takeaways Torani CEO Melanie Dulbecco is approaching AI as a tool to redesign work, rather than a reason to reduce headcount.
The 101-year-old syrup maker has maintained a no-layoffs record while adopting new technology.
Dulbecco believes employees are more likely to embrace AI when they trust the company will invest in their futures.
Beverages and syrups aren’t the only thing that sets Torani apart. The 101-year-old company has also earned a reputation for holding onto employees.
The San Leandro, California-based employer has never laid off workers in its entire history.
Now, as generative AI begins to transform the entry-level jobs that have long been a starting point for employees in corporate America, Torani CEO Melanie Dulbecco is confronting a challenge familiar to leaders across industries: How do you embrace technology designed to automate work without displacing the people who do it?
“It is going to dramatically change things, and we’re all going to live through this together, but our approach is going to be the same as it has been,” Dulbecco told Fortune in a recent interview. “How do we create great jobs through this for everyone?”
For Dulbecco, the question carries particular weight. She has led the syrup company for 35 years and wants to steer it into the AI era while preserving Torani’s longtime record of avoiding layoffs.
How Torani came to be
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