Anchor Brewing sold to Chobani yogurt king. The old label will return
After its abrupt closure last July shocked city beer fanatics—and led to a run on the dwindling supply of the brewery’s products—the historic San Francisco Anchor Brewing finally has a new buyer and a real chance at revival. Billionaire entrepreneur **Hamdi Ulukaya**, the Turkish-born CEO and founder of **Chobani**, the country’s largest producer of Greek yogurt, has purchased the brewery and its 2.17-acre Potrero Hill home.
Ulukaya’s personal investment firm, **Shepherd Futures**, is working with local developer **Presidio Bay Ventures** to help restart the brewery operations, restoring its traditional branding and repositioning the company again as a national player in the beverage space. Ulukaya has only been to San Francisco a handful of times but after learning the country’s oldest craft brewer was closing through an article—he sent the article to a colleague and asked them to find out more. That initial exploration led to a visit to Anchor Brewing’s San Francisco facilities, where he met with an employee who had worked at the company for 25 years. Soon enough, he was convinced.
Over Anchor’s 127-year history, it has had a string of owners ranging from German immigrants to appliance heir **Fritz Maytag** to international beverage brands. Anchor’s last owner prior to its closure was Japanese-based **Sapporo Breweries**, which purchased the company for $85 million in 2017. Sapporo shuttered the brand in 2023, blaming flagging sales and after a much-maligned label redesign and rebranding. Ulukaya, made sure to note he was no big fan of the brand’s new direction and intends to restore the brand’s beloved historic branding and imagery.
The property includes Anchor’s main brewing facility at 501 De Haro St. and a taproom across Mariposa Street at 495 De Haro St., totaling around 110,000 square feet. Land-use sources have also raised the potential for rezoning of adjacent undeveloped land into a residential property. John Jensen, a longtime commercial real estate broker with **Colliers** who has worked in Potrero Hill for decades, said the Anchor Brewing facility is a jewel within the neighborhood that could help spark a renewed vibrancy.
Ulukaya was selected as the buyer at the end of a complex months-long auction process, which divided the company’s real estate holdings, brewing equipment, brand, and intellectual property, including the iconic steam beer Anchor helped pioneer. Each of these assets was for sale individually or as a whole. Among those in the running to purchase the brewery were a group of former Anchor employees called the Anchor SF Cooperative and Potrero Hill resident and venture investor **Mike Walsh**. The purchase price for Anchor was not disclosed, but brokerage firm **CBRE** previously listed the real estate assets for $40 million. The company’s intellectual property was seeing bids of up to nearly $10 million, according to a source close to the process.
Anchor fans feared that the piecemeal process could diminish the 127-year-old brewing company. Ulukaya said the sellers were attracted by his offer to keep all parts of the company intact. “Anchor Brewing has always been a beloved part of San Francisco and thanks to Hamdi Ulukaya, it will be a part of San Francisco for years to come,” Mayor **London Breed** said in a statement. Ulukaya said he’s embarking on a listening tour to ask community members what they would like to see. While there is no exact timeline for the relaunch, he plans on moving quickly.
Ulukaya was born into a Kurdish dairy farming family in eastern Turkey and immigrated to the United States at the age of 22, where he started his journey into entrepreneurship. In line with his own immigrant story, Ulukaya has been particularly outspoken in his support for refugees and has created a nonprofit meant to link refugees to jobs at major companies. Chobani was born after Ulukaya purchased a shuttering yogurt factory in New York previously operated by Kraft Foods. After hiring four of the laid-off workers, Ulukaya reformatted the facility to create strained yogurt similar to the type he grew up with in Turkey. The company, which has expanded into categories like oat milk, yogurt drinks, and creamers, has surpassed $2 billion in sales. Ulukaya himself is worth some $2.4 billion, according to the **Forbes** Real-Time Net Worth index.
Ulukaya said he sees a parallel between the humble beginnings of Chobani and his hopes for revitalizing Anchor Brewing. He recently spent two hours with the four employees who have been with the company for decades keeping the legacy of the historic brand alive. “I wish someone could listen to the passion and love and mixed with the emotion that comes out of it,” Ulukaya said. “I’m addicted to restarting something.” Ulukaya noted he’s not particularly prone to invest in other food and beverage brands outside of Chobani. In 2015, he became the majority owner of **La Colombe Coffee Roasters**, purchasing his stake from a private equity he feared would dilute what he loved about the company and its products. Chobani later outright acquired the brand in 2023 for $900 million.
